j
THE PHILADELPHIA NEGRO
A Social Study
W. E. B. DuBOIS
Introduction by E. DIGBY BALTZELL
Together with
A Special Report on
Domestic Service
by Isabel Eaton
SCHOCKEN BOOKS NEW YORK
First published in 1899
First SCHOCKEN edition 1967
Introduction by E. Digby Baltzell, Copyright 1967 by Schocken Books Inc.
Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 67-26984
Manufactured in the United States of America
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTION by E. Digby Baltzell
THE PHILADELPHIA NEGRO.
CHAPTER I. The Scope of This Study ........... 1-4
1. General aim ............. i
2. The methods of inquiry ....... i
3. The credibility of the results ..... 2
CHAPTER II. The Problem ................ 5~9
4. The Negro problems of Philadelphia . 5
5. The plan of presentment ....... 8
CHAPTER III. The Negro in Philadelphia, 1638-1820 .... 10-24
6. General survey ............ 10
7. The transplanting of the Negro, 1638-
1760 ................ ii
8. Emancipation, 1760-1780 ....... 15
9. The rise of the freedmen, 1780-1820 . . 17
CHAPTER IV. The Negro in Philadelphia, 1820-1896 .... 25-45
10. Fugitives and foreigners, 1820-1840 . . 25
11. The guild of the caterers, 1840-1870 . . 32
12. The influx of the freedmen, 1870-1896 39
CHAPTER V. The Size, Age and Sex of the Negro Popula
tion ........... . . ~ * ""."". (. 46-65
13. The city for a century ........ 46
14. The Seventh Ward, 1896 ....... 58
CHAPTER VI. Conjugal Condition ............ 66-72
15. The Seventh Ward .......... 66
16. The city ............... 70
KANSAS CITY (MO.) PUBLIC LIBRARY ^
EXTENSION MAY 15 1969
Contents.
PAGE.
CHAPTER VII. Sources of the Negro Population 73-82
17. The Seventh Ward 73
18. The city 80
CHAPTER VIII. Education and Illiteracy 83-96
19. The history of Negro education ... 83
20. The present condition 89
CHAPTER IX. The Occupation of Negroes 97-146
21. The question of earning a living . . 97
22. Occupations in the Seventh Ward . . 99
23. Occupations in the city in
24. History of the occupations of Negroes 141
CHAPTER X. The Health of Negroes 147-163
25. The interpretation of statistics . ... 147
26. The statistics of the city 149
CHAPTER XI. The Negro Family 164-196
27. The size of the family 164
28. Incomes 168
29. Property 179
30. Family life 192
CHAPTER XII. The Organized Life of Negroes 197-234
31. History of the Negro church in Phila
delphia 197
32. The function of the Negro church . . 201
33. The present condition of the churches 207
34. Secret and beneficial societies and co
operative business 221
35. Institutions 230
36. The experiment of organization . . . 233
CHAPTER XIII. The Negro Criminal 235-268
37. History of Negro crime in the city . . 235
38. Negro crime since the war 240
39. A special study in crime 248
40. Some cases of crime 259
CHAPTER XIV. Pauperism and Alcoholism 269-286
41. Pauperism 269
42. The drink habit 277
43. The causes of crime and poverty . . 282
Contents,
PAGE.
CHAPTER XV. The Environment of the Negro 287-321
44. Houses and rent 287
45. Sections and wards 299
46. Social classes and amusements . . . 309
CHAPTER XVI. The Contact of the Races 322-367
47. Color prejudice 322
48. Benevolence 355
49. The intermarriage of the races . . . 358
CHAPTER XVII. Negro Suffrage 368-384
50. The significance of the experiment . 368
51. The history of Negro suffrage in Penn
sylvania 368
52. City politics 372
53. Some bad results of Negro suffrage 373
54. Some good results of Negro suffrage 382
55. The paradox of reform 383
CHAPTER XVIII. A Final Word 385-39?
56. The meaning of all this 385
57. The duty of the Negroes 389
58. The duty of the whites 393
APPENDIX A. Schedules used in the house-to-house inquiry . . 400-410
APPENDIX B. Legislation, etc., of Pennsylvania in regard to the
Negro 411-418
APPENDIX C. Bibliography 419-421
SPECIAL REPORT ON NEGRO DOMESTIC SERVICE
IN THE SEVENTH WARD.
I. Introduction 427~4 2 9
II. Enumeration of Negro domestic servants 430-434
Recent reform in domestic service 43
Enumeration 43 1
III. Sources of the supply and methods of hiring 435-443
Methods of hiring 43^
Personnel of colored domestic service 436
IV. Grades of service and wages 444-455
Work required of various sub-occupations 454
Contents.
PA.GB.
V. Savings and expenditure 456-462
Assistance given by domestic servants 459
... 462
Summary ^
VI. Amusements and recreations 4^3-473
VII. Ivength and quality of Negro domestic service 474-489
VIII Conjugal condition, illiteracy and health of Negro do
mestics
Conjugal condition 49
Health statistics for domestic servants 495
IX. Ideals of betterment 500-509
.... 511-520
INDEX
MAPS.
I. Map of Seventh Ward, showing streets and political divi-
sions Facing page 60
II. Map of Seventh Ward, showing distribution of Negro in
habitants throughout the ward, and their social condi
tion ' *"** page I
INTRODUCTION TO THE 1967 EDITION
by E. Digby Baltzell
IN AN appendix to his famous study of the American Negro, An
American Dilemma, Gunnar Myrdal discussed the need for
further research in the Negro community. "We cannot close this
description of what a study of a Negro community should be/' he
wrote, "without calling attention to the study which best meets
our requirements, a study which is now all but forgotten. We
refer to W. E. B. DuBois' The Philadelphia Negro, published in
1899." 1 One would hardly expect a greater tribute to this early
classic in American sociology. It is no wonder that there has not
been a scholarly study of the American Negro in the twentieth
century which has not referred to and utilized the empirical
findings, the research methods, and the theoretical point of view
of this seminal book.
A classic is sometimes defined as a book that is often referred
to but seldom read. The Philadelphia Negro, written by a young
scholar who subsequently became one of the three most famous
Negro leaders in American history, surely meets this requirement.
Though always referred to and frequently quoted by specialists,
it is now seldom read by the more general student of sociology.
For not only has the book been out of print for almost half a
century; it has been virtually unobtainable, as my own experience
of almost twenty years of searching in vain for a copy in second
hand bookstores attests. Even at the University of Pennsylvania,
under whose sponsorship the research was undertaken and the.
book published, although one copy has been preserved in the
archives and one on microfilm, the sole copy listed in the
catalogue and available for students in the library has been
unaccountably missing from the shelves for several years. In
writing this introduction, I am using a copy lent me by my good
friend, Professor Ira Reid of Haverford College, a one-time
colleague and friend of the late Professor DuBois at Atlanta
1. Gunnar Myrdal, An American Dilemma, p. 1132.
ix
x . Introduction to the 1967 Edition
University. Modern students, then, will certainly benefit from a
readily available paperback edition of this study of the Negro
community in Philadelphia at the turn of the nineteenth century.
In order to gain a full understanding of any book, one ought
to know something of the life and intellectual background of its
author, the place of the book in the history of the discipline ( in
this case sociology), as well as the climate of intellectual opinion
and the social conditions of the era in which the book was
written. Because The Philadelphia Negrolike all his other
writings was so intimately a part of the life of W. E. B. DuBois,
I shall begin this introduction with a brief outline of his career.
DuBois himself wrote in his seventies: "My life had its signifi
cance and its only deep significance because it was part of
a problem; but that problem was, as I continue to think, the
central problem of the greatest of the world's democracies and so
the problem of the future world." 2
It is one of the coincidences of American history that in the
year 1895, Frederick Douglass, a crusading abolitionist and the
first great leader of the Negro people, died, and Booker T.
Washington rose to national leadership with his "compromise"
speech at Atlanta, in which he made the famous statement that
"in all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the
fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to human
progress." In that same year, which marked the passing of Negro
leadership from the fiery and moralistic Douglass to the compro
mising and pragmatic Washington, a young New Englander, W.
E. B. DuBois, obtained the first Ph.D. degree ever awarded a
Negro by Harvard University.
William Edward Burghardt DuBois "was born by a golden
river and in the shadow of two great hills," in Great Barrington,
Massachusetts, in 1868, the same year "Andrew Johnson passed
from the scene and Ulysses Grant became President of the United
States." 3 He was a mulatto of French Huguenot, Dutch, and
Negro ("thank God, no Anglo-Saxon") ancestry. The Burghardt
family had lived in this area of the Berkshires ever since his
2. W. E. B. DuBois, Dusk of Dawn (New York: Harcourt, Brace and
World, 1940), p. vii.
3. In writing of DuBois* life, I have tried to quote him directly where
possible. I have profited greatly from the following biographical studies:
Introduction to the 1967 Edition xi
mother s great-grandfather had been set free after having served
for a brief period in the Revolution. (In 1908, DuBois was
accepted by the Massachusetts branch of the Sons of the
American Revolution but was eventually suspended from mem
bership by the national office because of his Negro ancestry.)
DuBois grew up in a community of some five thousand souls
which included between twenty-five and fifty Negroes. Social
position in the small town was more a matter of class than of
color. The rich people in town, mostly farmers, manufacturers,
and merchants, were "not very rich nor many in number." Like
the wealthier white children whom he "annexed as his natural
companions/' young Will DuBois judged men on their merits and
accomplishments and felt, as was natural in that day, that the rich
and successful deserved their position in life, as did the "lazy and
thriftless" poor. He "cordially despised" the immigrant mill-
workers and looked upon them as a "ragged, ignorant, drunken
proletariat, grist for the dirty woolen mills and the poorhouse."
As his father, apparently a charming but irresponsible almost-
white mulatto, died when he was very young, DuBois was
brought up by his mother. Though always very poor, she did her
best to pass on to her only son her own pride of ancestry and old-
established position in the local Negro community. Fortunately,
young Will was a precocious and brilliant boy, possessed of an
infinite cap ity for work and an abiding passion to excel. His
stern New i igland upbringing was reflected in the following
description of Ms values as a senior at Fisk: "I believed too little
in Christian dogma to become a minister," he wrote many years
later, "I was not without faith: I never stole material or spiritual
things; I not only never lied, but blurted out my conception of
the truth on many untoward occasions; I drank no alcohol and
knew nothing of women, physically or psychically, to the
incredulous amusement of most of my more experienced fellows:
I above all believed in work systematic and tireless." 4
Francis L. Broderick, W. E. B. DuBois: Negro Leader in a Time of
Crisis, and Elliott Morton Rudwick, "W. E. B. DuBois: A Study in
Minority Group Leadership" (unpublished doctoral dissertation, University
of Pennsylvania, 1956).
4. W. E. B. DuBois, "My Evolving Program for Negro Freedom," in
Rayford W. Logan, ed., What the Negro Wants, p. 38.
xii Introduction to the 1967 Edition
From an early age, DuBois planned to go to college and was
fortunately encouraged to do so by his friends and teachers. "A
wife of one of the cotton mill owners, whose only son was a pal
of mine," he wrote more than half a century later, "offered to see
that I got lexicons and texts to take up the study of Greek in
high school, without which college doors in that day would not
open. I accepted the offer as only normal and right; only after
many years did I realize how critical this gift was for my career." 5
Among the Negroes of Great Harrington, young Will DuBois
soon came to have a very special place. He was the only Negro in
his high-school class of twelve and one of the two or three boys
in the whole class who went on to college. After school and on
weekends he worked at all sorts of jobs. Through his friendship
with the local newsdealer, he obtained, for a brief period, a posi
tion as local correspondent for the Springfield Republican. He
also contributed local news to two Negro newspapers, one in
Boston and the other in New York. With a few harsh exceptions
as he reached adolescence, he was accepted on his merits by his
peers. Though not particularly good at sports, he was highly re
spected intellectually. At fifteen, he began annotating his col
lected papers, a practice he scrupulously followed until his
death, in Ghana, at the age of ninety-five.
DuBois was, of course, aware of the color line as he grew up,
but he had his first experience with a large Negro community at
the age of fifteen, when he went to visit his grandfather in New
Bedford. "I went to the East to visit my fathers father in New
Bedford," he later wrote, "and on that trip saw well-to-do, well-
mannered colored people; and once, at Rocky Point, Rhode
Island, I viewed with astonishment 10,000 Negroes of every hue
and bearing. I was transported with amazement and dreams; I
apparently noted nothing of poverty and degradation, but only
extraordinary beauty of skin color and utter equality of mien,
with absence so far as I could see of even the shadow of the
line of race." 6
DuBois graduated with high honors from high school in the
5. Ibid., p. 34.
6. Ibid,, p. 35.
Introduction to the 1967 Edition xiii
spring of 1884. His mother died soon after graduation day. Too
poor and also thought to be too young to go to college, he
finally took a job as timekeeper for a contractor who was building
a fabulous "cottage" for the widow of Mark Hopkins, whose
father-in-law had made a fortune in railroads and founded one of
the first families in San Francisco. He learned a great deal about
the ways of men on this responsible job, and was also able to save
a little money. In the fall of 1885, he obtained some scholarship
aid and entered Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, as a
sophomore. He would have preferred Harvard, but Fisk in many
ways proved to be a very valuable experience. Here for the first
time he lived among, and learned about, his fellow Negroes.
Though he did learn about a certain segment of the Southern
Negro community at Fisk and in Nashville, he was, nevertheless,
determined to see it whole. "Somewhat to the consternation of
both teachers and fellow students," he obtained a job teaching
school in the summer months in West Tennessee. "Needless to
say, the experience was invaluable," he wrote. "I traveled not only
in space but in time. I touched the very shadow of slavery. I lived
and taught school in log cabins built before the Civil War. My
school was the second held in the district since emancipation. I
touched intimately the lives of the commonest of mankind-
people who ranged from barefooted dwellers on dirt floors, with
patched rags for clothes, to rough, hard-working farmers, with
plain, clean plenty. I saw and talked with white people, noted
now their unease, now their truculence and again their friendli
ness. I nearly fell from my horse when the first school commis
sioner whom I interviewed invited me to stay to dinner. After
wards I realized that he meant me to eat at the second, but quite
as well-served table." 7
His years at Fisk, in contrast to his youth in New England,
left DuBois with a strong and bitter sense of the "absolute
division of the universe into black and white." Yet it was
probably a good thing that he went there before finally realizing
his boyhood dream of going to Harvard, which he entered on a
scholarship, as a junior, in the fall of 1888, "I was happy at
7. Ibid., pp. 37-38.
xiv Introduction to the 1967 Edition
Harvard, but for unusual reasons," he wrote much later. "One of
these unusual circumstances was my acceptance of racial segre
gation. Had I gone from Great Banington high school directly to
Harvard I would have sought companionship with my white
fellows and been disappointed and embittered by a discovery of
social limitations to which I had not been used/' 8
On the whole, his days at Cambridge were very lonely. He
made friends with only a very few of his classmates and reserved
his social life for the stimulating Negro community in and around
Boston: "I asked nothing of Harvard but the tutel' ge of teachers
and the freedom of the library. I was quite volurnarily and will
ingly outside of its social life." 9
Fortunately, the members of the faculty were far more friendly
than the students:
The Harvard of 1888 was an extraordinary aggregation of great
men. Not often since that day have so many distinguished
teachers been together in one place and at one time in America.
... By good fortune, I was thrown into direct contact with
many of these men. I was repeatedly a guest in the house of
William James; he was my friend and guide to clear thinking; I
was a member of the Philosophical Club and talked with Royce
and Palmer; I sat in an upper room and read Kant's Critique
with Santayana; Shaler invited a Southerner, who objected to
sitting by me, out of his class; I became one of Hart's favorite
pupils and was afterwards guided by him through my graduate
course and started on my work in Germany. It was a great
opportunity for a young man and a young American Negro,
and I realized it. 10
Apparently, even the haughty Anglophile and defender of
Anglo-Saxon traditions Barrett Wendell knew a good man when
he saw one. And DuBois never forgot the following experience:
I have before me a theme which I wrote October 3, 1890, for
Barrett Wendell, then the great pundit of Harvard English. I
said: "Spurred by my circumstances, I have always been given
to systematically planning my future, not indeed without many
8. Dusk of Dawn, p. 34.
9. Ibid., p. 35.
10. Ibid., p. 37.
Introduction to the 1967 Edition xv
mistakes and frequent alterations, but always with what I now
conceive to have been a strangely early and deep appreciation
of the fact that to live is a serious thing. I determined while in
school to go to college partly because other men went, partly
because I foresaw that such discipline would best fit me for
life. ... I believe foolishly perhaps, but sincerely, that I have
something to say to the world, and I have taken English 12 in
order to say it well." Barrett Wendell rather liked that last
sentence. He read it out to the class. 11
W. E. B. DuBois did indeed have something to say to the
world and he soon went on to write and speak more eloquently in
behalf of his race than any other man of his generation. But first
he finished his work at Harvard, obtaining an A.B. in 1890, an
M.A. in 1891, and completing most of the requirements for the
Ph.D. before going abroad for two years on a scholarship. DuBois
set sail for Europe on a Dutch boat in the summer of 1892, a
year, as he put it, which marked "the high tide of lynching in the
United States, when 235 persons were publicly murdered." He
studied at the University of Berlin, where he listened to Max
Weber and was accepted into "two exclusive seminars run by
leaders of the developing social sciences." During the vacations,
he traveled all over Europe where he was pleased to find far less
racial discrimination than in the United States. He later summed
up his experiences in Europe as follows:
From this unhampered social intermingling with Europeans of
education and manners, I emerged from the extremes of my
racial provincialism. I became more human; learned the place
in life of 'Wine, Women, and Song;" I ceased to hate or
suspect people simply because they belonged to one race or
color; and above all I began to understand the real meaning of
scientific research and the dim outline of methods of employing
its technique and its results in the new social sciences for the
settlement of the Negro problems in America. 12
DuBois returned from Europe in 1894 with an almost blind
faith in science and a determination to engage in a career of
research, writing, and teaching. He had originally wanted to be a
11. Ibid., pp. 38-39.
12. Logan, op. tit., p. 42.
xvi Introduction to the 1967 Edition
philosopher but "it was James with his pragmatism and Albert
Bushnell Hart with his research method, that turned me back
from the lovely but sterile land of philosophic speculation, to the
social sciences as the field for gathering and interpreting that
body of fact which would apply to my program for the Negro." 13
After spending a year teaching the classics at Wilberforce,
where he was frankly horrified at the low standards and
especially the overly emotional religious atmosphere (as con
trasted to his own rearing in the Congregational Church in Great
Barrington), he was called to the University of Pennsylvania,
where he was given an opportunity to carry out his program of
applying the methods of science to the Negro problem. In the
meantime, he received his Ph,D. from Harvard and had his thesis,
The Suppression of the African Slave-Trade to the United States
of America, 1638-1870, published as the first volume in the
Harvard Historical Series, in 1896, the year he began his research
on the Philadelphia Negro.
W. E. B. DuBois was brought to Philadelphia largely on the
initiative of Susan P. Wharton, a member of one of the city's
oldest and most prominent Quaker families. She had long been
interested in the problems of Negroes and was a member of the
Executive Committee of the Philadelphia College Settlement,
which had been founded in 1892. It is important to see that The
Philadelphia Negro was a product of the New Social Science and
Settlement House movements, both of which grew up in this
country and in England during the closing decades of the
nineteenth century.
"The best account of this new period/' writes Nathan Glazer,
"and indeed the most important book, to my mind, for an under
standing of the rise of the contemporary social scientific ap
proach, is Beatrice Webb's My Apprenticeship. Beatrice Webb
describes the rise of her interest in social problems, and the
unique vantage point afforded to her by the Potter family (she
was Beatrice Potter) and its connections to further his interest.
Although the most distinguished visitor to her home was Herbert
Spencer, two other distinguished Victorians who played a central
13. Ibid., p. 39.
Introduction to the 1967 Edition xvii
role in the development of social science were often there. One
was Francis Galton, whose discoveries in correlation were to be
largely responsible for moving social statistics from the level of
simple enumeration to that of a scientific tool of great precision
and value. The other was Charles Booth, who, with his own
fortune acquired from industry, was to conduct, beginning in the
1880's, the first great empirical social scientific study, an investiga
tion into the conditions of life among all the people of London." 14
It was in 1883, the year Karl Marx died, that young Beatrice
Potter deserted the social life of fashionable Mayfair and went to
the East End of London to work on her friend Charles Booth's
famous and seminal study of the life and living conditions of the
London poor. The next year, a group of Protestant clergymen,
followers of Charles Kingsley and Frederick Dennison Maurice
and their Christian Socialism, along with some young college men
from Oxford and Cambridge, founded Toynbee Hall, which was
an important landmark in the Settlement House and Social
Gospel movements in England and also in this country. At the
same time, Jane Addams, who had just graduated from college
and was traveling abroad, made her first visit to the slums of
London's East End. She was so horrified by what she saw there,
and so impressed with the work being done at Toynbee Hall and
with her newly acquired friend Beatrice Potter, that she came
back and founded Hull House, in 1889, in the heart of the
Chicago slums. Other settlement houses soon sprang up in most
of the major cities along the Eastern seaboard. In the meantime,
the famous Hull House Papers and Maps were published in 1895,
based directly on Charles Booth's methods of research; even the
colors on the maps, which indicated different degrees of poverty,
were the same.
While the more famous founders of sociology, such as Auguste
Comte, Karl Marx, and Herbert Spencer, were predominantly
armchair theorists in their approach to understanding the causes
and consequences of the industrial and urban revolutions, the rise
of capitalism and the problems of labor, it was the more
empirical and pragmatic tradition of Charles Booth in England
14. Nathan Glazer, "The Rise of Social Science Research in Europe," in
Daniel Lerner, ed., The Human Meaning of the Social Sciences (New
York: Meridian, 1959), pp. 58-59.
xviii Introduction to the 1967 Edition
and the Hull House work in this country, as the following
paragraph suggests, that inspired young DuBois when he came to
Philadelphia.
Herbert Spencer finished his ten volumes of Synthetic Phil
osophy in 1896. The biological analogy, the vast generali
zations, were striking, but actual scientific accomplishment
lagged. For me an opportunity seemed to present itself. ... I
determined to put science into sociology through a study of the
condition and problems of my own group. I was going to study
the facts, any and all facts, concerning the American Negro
and his plight, and by measurement and comparison and
research, work up to any valid generalization which I could. 15
It was in this same spirit that Susan P. Wharton went out to
the Wharton School, which a member of her family had founded
at the University of Pennsylvania, and prevailed on the Provost,
Charles C. Harrison, to undertake a study of the Negro problem
in the city's Seventh Ward (where, incidentally, Provost Har
rison, Miss Wharton, and many of Philadelphia's more fashion
able families lived at that time). Provost Harrison, heir to one of
the great sugar fortunes in America, had turned away from
business in his later years to devote himself to education and
social reform. He was immediately receptive to her plans. (The
project was outlined at a meeting at the Wharton residence, 910
Clinton Street, situated only a few blocks from the heart of the
Negro ghetto and the College Settlement House at Seventh and
South Streets [see map].) It was indeed fortunate for the
University, Miss Wharton, and the city as a whole, that a young
scholar of DuBois' ability, background, education, and scientific
point of view was obtained for the job by a member of the
Sociology Department of the Wharton School, Samuel McCune
Lindsay. DuBois came to the city in August, 1896, and, except for
a brief period of two months during the summer of 1897, when he
studied rural Negroes in Virginia because so many of them had
recently migrated to Philadelphia at the time of the study, he
remained in the city until January, 1898. Many years later,
DuBois described his call to Philadelphia and his stay there:
15. Dusk of Dawn, p. 51.
Introduction to the 1967 Edition xix
In the fall of 1896, I went to the University of Pennsylvania as
"Assistant Instructor" in Sociology. It all happened this way:
Philadelphia, then and still one of the worst governed of Amer
ica's badly governed cities, was having one of its periodic spasms
of reform. A thorough study of causes was called for. Not but
what the underlying cause was evident to most white Philadel-
phians: the corrupt, semi-criminal vote of the Negro Seventh
Ward, Everyone agreed that here lay the cancer; but would
it not be well to elucidate the known causes by a scientific
investigation, with the imprimatur of the University? It certainly
would, answered Samuel McCune Lindsay of the Department
of Sociology. And he put his finger on me for the task.
There must have been some opposition, for the invitation
was not particularly cordial. I was offered a salary of $800 for a
limited period of one year. I was given no real academic
standing, no office at the University, no official recognition of
any kind; my name was even eventually omitted from the
catalogue; I had no contact with students, and very little with
members of the faculty, even in my department. With my bride
of three months, I settled in one room over a cafeteria run by a
College Settlement, in the worst part of the Seventh Ward. We
lived there a year, in the midst of an atomosphere of dirt,
drunkenness, poverty and crime. Murder sat on our doorsteps,
police were our government, and philanthropy dropped in with
periodic advice. 16
These are bitter words. And apparently DuBois was not quite
true to the facts of the case. There was no evidence in the
minutes of the University's Board of Trustees of any "opposition"
to the appointment. On a request for information on the case
from a DuBois biographer, the late Professor Lindsay replied that
DuBois was "quite mistaken about the attitude of the Sociology
Department. It was quite friendly, I am sure, and as far as I
know that was true of the entire Wharton School faculty." 17 I
have quoted this passage from DuBois' writings, nevertheless,
because it suggests his own bitterness in 1944, when he wrote the
passage, at the general neglect in this country of the Negro
problem in the four decades following his publication of The
16. Logan, op. cit., p. 44.
17. Rudwick, op. cit., p. 32.
xx Introduction to the 1967 Edition
Philadelphia Negro. More important, I think, it may very well
reflect the spirit if not the letter of the thoughtless rather than
malicious attitudes of whites of that era toward an educated and
fastidious Negro like DuBois. For DuBois was very sensitive to
the climate of opinion at that time which, by and large, assumed
the inferiority of all Negroes, whether educated or not.
The life and thought of every age, one would suppose, is
always marked, like the lif e of every individual, by ambivalence,
paradox, and contradictions. In other words, just when many men
and women like Beatrice Webb, Jane Addams, or Miss Wharton
were dedicating their lives trying to understand and alleviate the
horrible conditions that surrounded the lives of the downtrodden
at the turn of the century, the dominant values of the com
fortable and complacent middle classes were crudely ma
terialistic, smugly racist, and somewhat self-righteous, to say the
least. In short, the 1890's were indeed marked by materialism at
the top and misery at the bottom of both the class and racial
scales. Thus DuBois, for instance, noted that the year 1892
marked the high tide of lynchings in the United States; it was also
the year of the bitter and cruel Homestead Strike. In 1894,
Coxey's Army marched on Washington. In 1895, South Carolina,
following the lead of Mississippi, and under the leadership of the
extreme racist Ben Tillman, disfranchised its Negroes; in the
same year, the Supreme Court of the United States, in the Plessy
vs. Ferguson case, sanctioned the "separate but equal" standard
that Booker T. Washington compromised with in his Atlanta
speech; and between 1895 and 1909, the Negro was systema
tically disfranchised throughout the South. It is no wonder that
many Americans responded to Bryan's plea, in the campaign of
1896, that Wall Street should not "crucify mankind upon a cross
of gold." Perhaps Kelly Miller, the son of former slaves who rose
to become a professor of sociology at Howard University, caught
the spirit of the "Gay Nineties/' as seen from the Negro point of
view, in the following summary of the distinction between
Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington:
The two men are in part products of their times, but also
natural antipodes. Douglass lived in the day of moral giants;
Washington lived in the era of merchant princes. The con
temporaries of Douglass emphasized the rights of man; those of
Introduction to the 1967 Edition xxi
Washington, his productive capacity. The age of Douglass
acknowledged the sanction of the Golden Rule; that of
Washington worships the Rule of Gold, The equality of men
was constantly dinned into Douglass' ears; Washington hears
nothing but the inferiority of the Negro and the dominance of
the Saxon. 18
The Anglo-Saxon complex Kelly Miller was referring to was, of
course, a reflection of the inevitable racial implications in Social
Darwinism, which was the overwhelmingly dominant ideology in
America at that time. In an age when men thought of themselves
as having evolved from the ape rather than having been created
in the image of angels, the Negro, it was almost universally
agreed among even the most educated people, was definitely an
inferior breed and situated at the very base of the evolutionary
tree. "Now as to the Negroes," Theodore Roosevelt wrote to his
friend Owen Wister, "I entirely agree with you that as a race and
in the mass they are altogether inferior to the whites." And
Roosevelt never repeated his "mistake," as he called it, of asking
Booker T. Washington or any other Negro to the White House.
For he was very sensitive to the opinions of an age in which, as
the historian Rayford W. Logan has written, "both newspapers
and magazines stereotyped, caricatured and ridiculed Negroes in
atrocious dialect that shocks the incredulous reader today. Few
newspapers in the Deep South today portray the Negro in such
outlandish fashion as did the spokesmen for the 'Genteel Tra
dition in the North/" 19 Nor must we forget that very distin
guished and objective social scientists, almost without exception,
agreed with the "Genteel Tradition" and Roosevelt's point of
view. With calipers and rulers and all sorts of statistical devices,
they were busy building up elaborate classifications of the
"inborn" mental and psychological traits of Nordics, Aryans,
Semites, Teutons, Hottentots, Japs, Turks, Slavs, and Anglo-
Saxons with Negroes of course at the very bottom of this bio
logical hierarchy.
18. Quoted in E. Franklin Frazier, The Negro in the United States,
p. 545.
19. Rayford W. Logan, The Negro in the United States; A Brief History,
p. 54.
xxii Introduction to the 1967 Edition
Finally, it is important to place this dominant American
ideology in a larger frame, For it was between the publication of
Darwin's Origin of Species by Natural Selection, or The Preser
vation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life, in 1859, and the
Boer War in 1902, that white Western men conquered, explored,
fought over, and partitioned among themselves the continent of
black Africa below the Sierra. The year of 1896, when DuBois
went to Philadelphia, also witnessed Queen Victoria's Diamond
Jubilee celebration, a symbol of the high tide of "white su
premacy" throughout the world.
It was, then, in the most discouraging and deplorable period
in the history of the American Negro since the Civil War that
young DuBois came to Philadelphia and set about doing a
thorough and objective study of the Negro community. That the
book, when finally published in 1899, succeeded in being ob
jective, most modern readers, I think, will recognize. But even
at the time of its publication, its reviewers were equally
impressed with the author's critical and thorough methods of
research. In the Yale Review, a reviewer found the book to be "a
credit to American scholarship . . . the sort of book of which we
have too few. . . . Here is an inquiry, covering a specific field and
a considerable period of time, and persecuted with candor,
thoroughness and critical judgment." 20 The reviewer in The
Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
(a Southerner) found the book to be "exceptional and scholar
ly. ... It is a critical, discriminating statement of the conditions
and results of Negro life in a large, northern seaboard city a
little more than thirty years after the Civil War . . . and its perma
nent national value to the scholar and the statesman is pre
dicted." 21 The reviewer in The Nation was especially im
pressed with the historical material included in the book and
only criticized the author for taking "too gloomy a view of the
situation/' 22 The Outlook review was long, detailed, and filled
with praise: the historical background alone, thought tibe re-
20. Yale Review, IX (May, 1900), 110-11.
21. The Annals of the American Academy of Social and Political Science,
XV (January-May, 1900), 101.
22. The Nation, LXIX (1899), 310.
Introduction to the 1967 Edition xxiii
viewer, "would of itself give this volume exceptional value." 23
And he went on to praise DuBois' objectivity: "In no respect does
Dr. DuBois attempt to bend the facts so as to plead for his race
... he is less apologetic than a generous-minded white writer
might be. ... Professor DuBois' aim is always to keep well with
in the field where his generalizations cannot be disputed." 24
Thus the reviews at the time of publication invariably praised
the book and remarked on the objectivity of the author. In fact,
between the lines one has the impression that most of the white
reviewers were rather surprised that a Negro author could have
been capable of a work of such careful scholarship and objec
tivity. In spite of this, one is amazed to find that the reviewers
did not come out openly and criticize DuBois' definitely en
vironmental, rather than racial, approach to the problems of the
Philadelphia Negroes. There was only a hint of this in the
American Historical Review, in which the reviewer praised the
book but questioned the author's optimism in regarding the
Negro problem as soluble, in the long run, in terms of status and
environmental improvement. The reviewer also, incidentally,
appeared to be worried about "race pollution/ The tone of the
review is suggested by the following lines:
The book is not merely a census-like volume of many tables
and diagrams of the colored people of Philadelphia. The author
seeks to interpret the meaning of statistics in the light of social
movements and the characteristics of the times, as, for instance,
the growth of the city by foreign immigration. ... He is
perfectly frank, laying all necessary stress on the weaknesses of
his people. ... He shows a remarkable spirit of fairness. If any
conclusions are faulty, the fault lies in the overweight given to
some of his beliefs and hopes. 25
After praising DuBois' fairness and outlining some of his
findings, the reviewer criticizes DuBois' hopes:
This state of things is due chiefly, in Dr. DuBois 7 judgment,
to a color prejudice, and this he believes can be done away
with in time, just as the class prejudices of earlier centuries in
23. Outkok, LXIII (1899), 647-48
24. Ibid.
25. American Historical Review, VI (1900-1901), 163.
xxiv Introduction to the 1967 Edition
Europe are being wiped out gradually , . . but we need, what
Dr. DuBois does not give, more knowledge of the effects of the
mixing of blood of very different races, and the possibilities of
absorption of inferior into superior groups of mankind. He
speaks of the "natural repugnance to close intermingling with
unfortunate ex-slaves," but we believe that the separation is
due to differences of race more than of status. 26
The hereditarian or racial as against the environmental or
cultural approaches to .the causes of the differences between
Negroes and whites, both in America and in other parts of the
world, divide men to this day. Perhaps the ultimate truth lies in a
"both/ and" rather than an "either/or" approach. Nevertheless
and especially in an age such as our own which tends to assume,
often dogmatically, the greater importance of environment and
cultureone must look back on The Philadelphia Negro as a
pioneering attempt to objectively advance this modern approach
in an era when most men deeply and sincerely felt that fixed
hereditary aptitudes differentiated the races of men and con
sequently precluded any possibility of eventual integration on a
plane of social, cultural, and political equality, Thus, in answer to
his hereditarian opponents such as the reviewer in the American
Historical Review, DuBois fell back on his own broad historical
perspective by reminding his readers in the closing pages how
many once-held hereditarian dogmas had already been eroded by
the passage of time and the changing social situation:
We rather hasten to forget that once the courtiers of English
kings looked upon the ancestors of most Americans with far
greater contempt than these Americans look upon Negroes
and perhaps, indeed, had more cause. We forget that once
French peasants were the "Niggers" of France, and that
German princelings once discussed with doubt the brains and
humanity of the bauer (p. 386) .
It was, then, not only DuBois' painstaking methods of
research and his objective interpretations of the evidence that has
given The Philadelphia Negro a permanent place in the socio-
26. Ibid., p. 164.
Introduction to the 1967 Edition xxv
logical literature. It was also the fact that DuBois brought a
thoroughly sociological point of view to bear on this carefully
collected evidence. In other words, the book, in emphasizing an
environmental point of view, made a definite theoretical con
tribution. Some four decades later, for example, the authors of an
important modern study of the Negro community in Chicago,
Black Metropolis, explicitly referred to this contribution as
follows:
In 1899, Dr. W. E. B. DuBois published the first important
sociological study of a Negro community in the United States
The Philadelphia Negro (University of Pennsylvania). At the
outset, he presented an ecological map detailing the distri
bution of the Negro population by "social condition," and
divided his subjects into four "grades:" (1) the "middle
classes" and those above; (2) the working people-fair to
comfortable; (3) the poor; (4) vicious and criminal classes.
Despite the economic emphasis in this classification and his
extensive presentation of data on physical surroundings, Du
Bois concluded that "there is a far mightier influence to mold
and make the citizen, and that is the social atmosphere which
surrounds him; first his daily companionship, the thoughts and
whims of his class; then his recreation and amusements; finally
the surrounding world of American civilization" (p. 309). This
emphasis upon the social relations-in family, clique, church,
voluntary associations, school, and jobas the decisive ele
ments in personality formation is generally accepted. The
authors feel that it should also be the guiding thread in a study
of "class". . . all serious students of Negro communities since
DuBois have been concerned with the nature of social stratifi
cation. ... In the Thirties this interest was given added
stimulus by the suggestive hypotheses thrown out by Professor
W. Lloyd Warner and by a general concern in anthropological
and sociological circles with social stratification in America. 27
As this quotation from Black Metropolis suggests, there has
been a direct intellectual line between DuBois' emphasis on class
and social environment as major causal agents in personality
formation and a whole subsequent tradition in American soci-
27. St. Clair Drake and Horace R. Cayton, Black Metropolis, pp. 787-88.
xxvi Introduction to the 1967 Edition
ology. Thus, for example, Franz Boas in his Lowell Lecture, The
Mind of Primitive Man (1911), was echoing the findings and
conclusions of DuBois when he wrote that "the traits of the
American Negro are adequately explained on the basis of his
history and his social status . . , without falling back upon the
theory of hereditary inferiority." 28 And the tradition continued
through W. I. Thomas and Florian Znanieckfs classic and
pioneering study of the adjustment to the urban environment of
Polish peasants in Chicago and Warsaw ( The Polish Peasant in
Europe and America 1918-21), through the whole school of
urban sociology which Robert E. Park (for some time an assistant
and colleague of Booker T. Washington at Tuskegee) inspired at
the University of Chicago during the 1920's, to the later W. Lloyd
Warner school of community studies at Harvard and Chicago,
which inspired Black Metropolis and Deep South as well as the
classic Yankee City Series. The origins, in both method and
theoretical point of view, of all of these studies are to be found in
The Philadelphia Negro.
In many ways, DuBois' whole life experiences before coming
to Philadelphia in 1896 his youth, when he competed on his
merits with his peers in the white community in Great Barring-
ton, his observations of the faculty and students at Fisk as well as
the poorest and most primitive Negroes in West Tennessee, his
own achievements at Harvard as well as his contacts with great
teachers like William James, and his witnessing the attitudes of
educated Europeans toward hruself all combined to prepare
him to see that racial inequality was partly a matter of class
inequality and to emphasize the need for stratification and the
creation of an open and talented elite class within the Negro
community. And, above all, he emphasized the fact that this class,
already existing in nascent form in Philadelphia, must be
recognized by members of the white community who were
forever judging all Negroes on the basis of the behavior of the
"submerged tenth." "In many respects it is right and proper to
judge a people by its best classes rather than by its worst classes
or middle ranks," he wrote in the excellent chapter on "The
Environment of the Negro" (p. 316). "The highest class of any
28. Franz Boas, The Mind of Primitive Man (New York, 1911 ), p. 272.
Introduction to the 1967 Edition xxvii
group/' he continued, "represents its possibilities rather than its
expectations, as is so often assumed in regard to the Negro. The
colored people are seldom judged by their best classes, and often
the very existence of classes among them is ignored." Thus
DuBois saw very clearly that the white community's propensity to
see all Negroes as part of one homogeneous mass served as a
rationalization for their own racist thinking. Much of the
charitable work among the depressed classes of Negroes, more
over, only served to reinforce white prejudices : "Thus the class of
Negroes which the prejudices of the city have distinctly en
couraged," wrote DuBois, "is that of the criminal, the lazy and the
shiftless; for them the city teems with institutions and charities;
for them there is succor and sympathy; for them Philadelphians
are thinking and planning; but for the educated and industrious
young colored man who wants work and not platitudes, wages
and not alms, just rewards and not sermons for such colored
men Philadelphia apparently has no use" (p. 352).
While DuBois was rightly critical of the white community, he
also criticized upper-class Negroes for not taking the lead among
their own people:
The aristocracy of the Negro population in education, wealth
and general social efficiency ... are not the leaders or the ideal-
makers of their own group in thought, work, or morals. They
teach the masses to a very small extent, mingle with them but
little, do not largely hire their labor. Instead then of social
classes held together by strong ties of mutual interest we have
in the case of the Negroes, classes who have much to keep
them apart, and only community of blood and color prejudice
to bind them togethere. . . . The first impulse of the best, the
wisest and richest is to segregate themselves from the mass . . .
they make their mistake in failing to recognize that however
laudable an ambition to rise may be, the first duty of an upper
class is to serve the lowest classes. The aristocracies of all
peoples have been slow in learning this and perhaps the Negro
is no slower than the rest, but his peculiar situation demands
that in his case this lesson be learned sooner (pp. 316-17).
In emphasizing the need for a properly functioning class
structure within the Negro community, DuBois was anticipating
xxviii Introduction to the 1967 Edition
one of the major themes of the late E. Franklin Frazier s classic
study of the emerging Negro middle class in America. Half a
century after DuBois' study of Philadelphia, Professor Frazier
(the first Negro to be elected president of the American Soci
ological Society) wrote in his Black Bourgeoisie:
Because of its struggle to gain acceptance by whites, the
black bourgeoisie has failed to play the role of a responsible
elite in the Negro community . . . they have no real interest in
education and genuine culture and spend their leisure in
frivolities and in activities designed to win a place in Negro
"society." The single factor that has dominated the mental
outlook of the black bourgeoisie has been its obsession with the
struggle for status. 29
In the long run, one of the most important contributions of
this book, as more than one reviewer at the time of its publication
noted, may well be the fact that it is the best documented his
torical record of an urban and Northern Negro community in
existence. Fortunately, DuBois was well trained in, and devoted
to, the historian's craft. But it was also fortunate that the city of
Philadelphia possessed the oldest and, in 1896, the largest
Northern Negro community in the nation, exceeded in population
only by the three Southern Negro communities of New Orleans,
Washington, D;C., and Baltimore (a border city).
In fact, Negroes had been brought up the Delaware by the
Swedes before Penn founded the Colony in 1682. In the city
where the Declaration of Independence was written and the
nation founded, the Negroes also had an important history, which
DuBois carefully documented: here in Philadelphia was the first
expression against the slave trade, the first organization for the
abolition of slavery, the first legislative enactments for the
abolition of slavery, the first attempt at Negro education, the first
Negro convention, and so forth.
Since DuBois himself, in this study and in many others, con
tributed so much to the understanding of his people's history, it
seems most appropriate to close this introduction with a brief
history of some of the more important sociological changes in the
29. E, Franklin Frazier, Black Bourgeoisie, pp. 235-36.
Introduction to the 1967 Edition xxix
Philadelphia Negro community since the turn of the nineteenth
century.
The Philadelphia Negro Since DuBois
The most striking thing about the development of the Phil
adelphia Negro community since DuBois' day is its steady
increase in size. In fact, the steady migration of Southern Negroes
to Philadelphia began in the decade of the 1890 ? s ( see Table 1 )
Table 1
PHILADELPHIA NEGRO POPULATION
Increase by Decades (1890-1960)
INCREASE
DECADE POPULATION NUMBER PER CENT
1880
31,699
1890
39,371
7,672
24
1900
62,613
23,242
60
1910
84,459
21,846
33
1920
134,229
49,770
58
1930
219,599
85,370
63
1940
250,880
31,281
14
1950
376,041
125,161
50
1960
529,239
153,198
30
and kept up throughout the twentieth century. DuBois saw this
increasing pace of migration and consequently went to Virginia
during the first summer of his study in order to see how the
Negroes lived in the rural areas, the better to understand their
problems of adjustment to urban life. The pace of migration, of
course, was greatly increased during World War I and the 1920's.
At the same time, anti-Negro attitudes increased, producing racial
strife, increasing segregation in public places, and a rapid rise in
residential ghettoization. Migration slowed down during the
1930's, then increased again during World War II and the
postwar years, until today the Negroes constitute over one fourth
XXX
Introduction to the 1967 Edition
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xxxii Introduction to the 1967 Edition
of the city's residents in contrast to the less than 5 per cent
minority of DuBois' day.
With the steady increase in the size of the Negro population,
the pattern of residential distribution also changed. In contrast to
1890, when most of the city's Negroes lived in the center of the
city and close to their white neighbors, by 1960, a majority of
Negroes had moved to the southern, northern, and western
sections of the city (Table 2). In 1960, for the first time in the
city's history, one whole city section contained more Negro than
white residents (Table 2: 70 per cent Negro in North Phila
delphia). The changing size and residential distribution of the
Negro population has, of course, been both cause and result of
changing social relations between the races.
In Philadelphia in the 1890's, the largest concentration of
Negroes was in the Seventh Ward which DuBois studied in
detail. But this Ward was, at the same time, the center of the
city's "silk stocking" or upper-class neighborhood. The majority of
the Negroes in the Ward were employed as domestic servants,
and lived in close proximity to (if not in the homes of) their
employers. Social relations between whites and Negroes, there
fore, were marked by clear status differentials and high social
interaction, rather than by the residential segregation, and low
social interaction which characterizes the relations between the
races today. In 1960, the Seventh Ward, as in its heyday of
fashion in the 1890's, is still about one-third Negro. But most of
the members of the white upper class have migrated to the
suburbs. Though there are still a few fashionable white blocks,
many of the old mansions have long since been converted into
cultural institutions, apartments, rooming houses, and offices for
physicians and other professional people. Both the white and
Negro populations have steadily declined in absolute numbers:
In 1890, the Seventh Ward had 30,179 residents of whom 8,861
(or 30 per cent) were Negroes; in 1960, there were only 17,079
residents in the Ward, of whom 6,308 (or 35 per cent) were
Negroes. 30 And of course, in our modern, mechanized world of
smaller middle-class households, live-in domestic servants are no
30. Population of Philadelphia Sections and Wards 1860-1960.
Introduction to the 1967 Edition xxxiii
longer fashionable or economically feasible, producing a con
sequent decline in social relations between the races.
Following a pattern set by the Georgetown comrnunity in
Washington, D.C., in an earlier day, the Seventh Ward has been
witnessing, during the 1960's, a steadily increasing pattern of
white invasion of the Negro areas of the Ward. Though the Ward
has recently been absorbed into one all-inclusive center-city
ward, its traditional area will be largely white by 1970. More and
more white, suburban families are now moving back to the city,
both those who have raised their children and those of the
younger generation who are disenchanted with the suburban way
of life. But they will be moving back to a more and more
segregated city, as the figures in Tables 2 and 3 clearly show.
Fortunately for the historian and the sociologist, there were
three major ghettoized Negro wards in the city in 1960 which had
not had their boundaries changed since 1890 (Table 3). The
changing racial composition of these three wards reflects the
history of the Negro community in the city in the twentieth
century. As an inspection of the figures in Table 3 will show, all
three of these wards contained a small minority of Negro
residents in 1890. But, as the size of the Philadelphia Negro
community steadily increased in the twentieth century, each ward
eventually became ghettoized in a definite historical pattern. The
Thirtieth Ward, which lies just to the South of the Seventh ( see
Ward Map in 1890, p. 60), became the city's first Negro ghetto
(51 per cent Negro in 1920). It was no accident that Phila
delphia's first race riot in the twentieth century, in the summer of
1918, took place on the southern boundary of the Thirtieth Ward.
Thus in her Ph.D. dissertation at the University of Pennsylvania,
published in 1921, Sadie Tanner Mossell (now Mrs. Raymond
Pace Alexander, wife of a noted jurist, and herself a lawyer and
chairman of Philadephia's Commission on Human Relations)
wrote that "a colored probation officer of the Municipal Court,
a woman of refinement and training and an old citizen of Phila
delphia, purchased and took up residence at the house numbered
2936 Ellsworth Street. The white people in the neighborhood
xxxiv Introduction to the 1967 Edition
resented her living there and besieged the house. A race riot
ensued in which two men were killed and sixty injured." 31
The steady migration of Negroes into the city during the war
years and the 1920's not only contributed to the ghettoization of
the Negro community; it also contributed to the segregation of
Negro children in the schools and the closing of most of the city's
commercial and entertainment centers to Negroes: As Miss
Mossell noted, "such social privileges as the service of eating
houses and the attending of white churches and theaters by
Negroes, were practically withdrawn after the influx of Negro
migrants into Philadelphia." 32 The older Negro residents of the
city were naturally upset by this new segregation. The Mossell
study continued:
The old colored citizens of Philadelphia resented this. Placed
the blame at the migrant's door and stood aloof from him.
Negro preachers invited the new arrivals into the church but
many of the congregations made him know that he was not
wanted. In some cases the church split over the matter, the
migrants and their sympathizers withdrawing and forming a
church for themselves. 33
South Philadelphia, especially the southern part of the
Seventh Ward running along Lombard and South (the oldest
Negro commerical street in the city) streets, together with the
whole Thirtieth Ward, was Philadelphia's first Negro ghetto.
And it remained so from the 1920's through World War II.
Beginning in the 1920's, however, another Negro ghetto began
to develop in North Philadelphia (see Tables 2 and 3). Thus in
1920, the Thirty-second Ward was composed primarily of
residents of foreign-born and foreign-stock (mostly Jewish)
origins. In the course of the next decade, however, the Negro
population increased almost fourfold, and by 1930 made up
nearly one third of the Ward's residents (Table 3). By 1940,
the Thirty-second Ward was about half Negro, as was the
Forty-seventh, an immediately adjacent ward to the south (the
31. Sadie Tanner Mossell, "The Standard of Living Among One
Hundred Negro Migrant Families in Philadelphia," p. 9.
32. Ibid.
33. Ibid.
Introduction to the 1967 Edition xxxv
Forty-seventh was cut out of the eastern half of the Twenty-
ninth after the 1910 census and hence not used for Table 3).
By 1950, the Thirty-second, the Forty-seventh, and three other
North Philadelphia wards were over half Negro; by 1960, this
whole section became the city's major ghetto (70 per cent
Negro ) .
During the long, hot summer of 1964, a series of race
riots broke out in major American cities, beginning in Harlem in
July and ending in Philadelphia on the last day of August. Just as
the riot of 1918 had broken out along the boundary of the
Thirtieth Ward ghetto, so it was no accident that the racial
disturbance in 1964 broke out on the boundary between wards
Thirty-two and Forty-seven, along Columbia Avenue at 22nd
Street, when a husband and wife, both intoxicated, were found
quarreling by the police. Rioting soon spread throughout the
North Philadelphia ghetto, killing two persons, injuring 339, and
producing some $3 million worth of property damage.
The causes of any riot are many and complex. But DuBois
would have agreed that one of the important causes in 1964 was
the fact that the Negro masses in North Philadelphia were almost
completely cut off from the more affluent and successful
members of their own race. Most of the solid Negro citizens live
in more suburban areas of the city and, like their counterparts
whom DuBois criticized in his day, are more concerned with their
own careers than with the problems of racial leadership. An ex
ception was the local head of the NAACP, Cecil Moore, a flam
boyant, charming, but often irresponsible individual who has
stepped into the leadership vacuum left by the more solid Negro
establishment. For unlike the establishment Negroes, Moore re
sides within the North Philadelphia ghetto and was on the scene
during the riots, doing his best to calm his neighbors down.
Lenora E. Berson, in her study of the riot, wrote:
Today, only the National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People (NAACP) has any real following in North
Philadelphia. The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Com
mittee (SNCC) and the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)
have made little headway in the city.
Since his ascension to the presidency of the Philadelphia
xxxvi Introduction to the 1967 Edition
Branch in January, 1963, Cecil Moore has transformed the
NAACP from a conservative institution into a mass-member
ship action organization.
Much of Moore's strength within the local NAACP comes
from its North Philadelphia members, whom he recruited into
the organization. Unlike most Negro leaders, Moore lives in the
riot area. He calls the North Philadelphians "my people," and
many feel they are just that. In a poll of residents conducted by
Radio Station WDAS, Moore was found to be far and away the
best-known Philadelphia Negro. 34
The last Negro ghetto to develop was that of West Phila
delphia. By 1950, the Twenty-fourth Ward had more Negro than
white residents for the first time. It has never reached the high
proportion of Negroes which marks the Thirtieth in South
Philadelphia, or the Thirty-second in North Philadelphia, largely
because, since the 1950's, the southern part of the ward has
developed into a bohemian and intellectual community. Once an
elite residential neighborhood containing some of the finest
examples of Victorian architecture in the city, this part of the
Twenty-fourth, known as "Powelton Village," has become a more
or less integrated and middle-class community, made up largely
of graduate students and faculty members of the University of
Pennsylvania and other local institutions, as well as other
professionals possessing liberal or bohemian values. There is a
great deal of neighborhhod pride in this area and some civic
concern for life in the neighboring ghetto to the north.
By I960, fourteen wards in the cityeight in North Phila
delphia, three in South Philadelphia, and three in West Phil
adelphiacontained a majority of Negro residents. Indeed, the
racial composition of the city and the residential distribution of
its Negroes had changed beyond recognition since DuBois' day.
And so in many ways had the economic position of the
Negroes, both for the better and for the worse. DuBois was
vitally concerned with the depressed and segregated economic
plight of the Negroes in the last decade of the nineteenth century,
which was probably worse than it had been during the first
decade of the century. He considered freedom and political rights
34. Lenora E. Berson, Case Study of a Riot, p. 30.
Introduction to the 1967 Edition xxxvii
to be a mere sham unless Negroes were also able to take their
rightful place in the city's economic life. He was, for instance,
horrified to find that the depressed economic plight of his people
pushed them into close social relationships with the most corrupt
elements of machine politics. Above all he stressed the fact that
the lack of opportunity to advance by education or hard work
corrupted the Negro and drove him into the psychological en
vironment of "excuse and listless despair." Thus he wrote: "The
humblest white employee knows that the better he does his work
the more chance there is for him to rise in business. The black
employee knows that the better he does his work the longer he
may do it; he can not hope for promotion" ( p. 328 ) . Aware of his
own position in spite of his educational qualifications, DuBois
saw that educational attainments of Negroes only led to frus
tration: "A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania in
mechanical engineering, well recommended," he wrote, "obtained
work in the city, through an advertisement, on account of his
excellent record. He worked a few hours and then was discharged
because he was found to be colored. He is now a waiter at the
University Club, where his white fellow graduates dine." A
graduate in pharmacy applied for a job and was given the
following answer: "I wouldn't have a darky to clean out my store,
much less stand behind the counter" (p, 328). Clerks and white-
collar jobs were, of course, unobtainable, but so were both skilled
and unskilled jobs in industry. DuBois noted one exception to this
at the Midvale Steel Works, where the manager, dubbed a
"crank" by many of his peers, had employed some 200 Negroes
who worked along with white mechanics "without friction or
trouble."* Finally, DuBois deplored the fact that, unlike other
minority groups, Negroes were rarely found running their own
businesses. Those that did exist were marginal. In short, the vast
majority of Negroes in the city in DuBois' day were relegated to
domestic service or allied personal services such as catering
or hotel jobs as waiters, porters, shoe-shine boys (some in
their fifties and sixties), and so forth.
As of the 1960's, though Negroes are surely a long way from
Though DuBois did not mention it, the "crank" at the Midvale Steel
Works was Frederick W. Taylor, who eventually became world famous as
the "father of scientific management."
xxxviii Introduction to the 1967 Edition
obtaining equal opportunity with whites, there is no question that
opportunities for Negro employment in the city have improved
greatly since the 1890's when DuBois painted a dismal picture of
their plight. Perhaps the first wave of improvement in em
ployment opportunities in the city, as well as all over the nation,
came during World War I incidentally a mixed blessing. While,
as noted above, there was virtually no industrial employment of
Negroes in 1896, Miss Mossell estimated that some 30,000 Negro
laborers were employed by Philadelphia firms as of 1917. The
Midvale Steel Company, which was the exception in 1896 when it
employed some 200 Negroes, employed some 4000 Negroes in
1917. While this new employment was a change for the better in
some ways, it also had unfortunate consequences. "The Pennsyl
vania Railroad," wrote Miss Mossell at the time, "was the only
industry which provided any kind of housing for the migrant.
The camps in which it lodged him, however, proved to be of little
assistance, since the camps themselves, consisting of ordinary
tents and box cars, did not provide adequate shelter." 35
The living conditions of the Negro migrants were miserable
enough during the war. But things were even worse when the
war came to an end. Unemployment, idleness, racial riots, and
continual strife marked Negro-white relations during what Eu
gene P. Foley has called "the warring Twenties." 36 In fact, racial
unrest was continual up to and after the time of the passage by
Pennsylvania of its first Civil Rights Act of 1935. Though Negroes
were now employed in industry, their inferior position and pay
was taken for granted. For example, the city went through the
most crippling transit strike in its history in the early 1940's. The
strike, which cost the taxpayers more than $10 million, was due to
the fact that white workers refused to go back to their jobs as
long as Negro workers were given equal pay for equal work. On
the whole, then, it can be said that Negroes made very little
headway in breaking down discrimination in employment
throughout the 1920's and 1930's. Employment in industry, of
35. Mossell, op. cit., p. 7.
36. Eugene P. Foley, "The Negro Businessman: In Search of a Tradi
tion," p. 573. This is an excellent study of Negro business in America
and is most relevant here because most of the empirical data was taken
from the Philadelphia community.
Introduction to the 1967 Edition xxxix
course, picked up during World War II, but real gains awaited
the postwar period.
The 1950's were definitely years of increasing opportunities
for Philadelphia Negroes, even though in 1960 Negroes were
twice as likely to be unemployed as whites ( 10 per cent vs. 5 per
cent). In the first place there was a great decline in the pro
portion of Negroes engaged in domestic service,* DuBois found
that 88.5 per cent of the females, and 61.5 per cent of the males in
the Seventh Ward were domestic servants. By I960, these propor
tions had declined on a city-wide basis to 0.6 per cent of the
males and 3.3 per cent of the females. 37 The big change came
in the 1950's, when male domestic service declined by 61.2 per
cent, and female by 29.9 per cent, in the course of a single de
cade. In contrast to this decline in the proportion of Negroes in
these occupations which stigmatized their inferior position, white-
collar employment among Philadelphia Negroes increased in a
relatively spectacular fashion. Between 1950 and 1960, for ex
ample, the proportion of Negro males employed as clerical work
ers increased by 58.9 per cent, that of females by 221.8 per cent.
At the same time, the proportion of Negro males in professional
occupations increased by 45.9 per cent, of females by 90.9 per
cent; salesmen increased by 30.7 per cent, saleswomen by 88.4
per cent.
These statistics showing the quantitative increase in the pro
portion of Negroes in white-collar occupations during the 1950's
reflect unprecedented changes in the quality of race relations in
the center city. As of the 1930's, for instance, one rarely saw a
Negro in the major downtown department and clothing stores, in
banks, moving-picture houses, theaters, or other public places. No
major department store or bank had Negroes in white-collar
positions dealing directly with the public. No Negro lawyer could
obtain office space in the center city business district. Negroes sat
in the balconies of the big movie palaces. Hotels and restaurants
were strictly segregated. Most of these strict taboos came in
*DuBois was very concerned about the low sex ratio (80) among
Negroes and its effect on the family. It is consequently of interest that,
in I960, the sex ratio of Negroes in the city had increased to 90, partly
a reflection of the decline of domestic service as the main Negro occupation.
37. Philadelphia's Non-White Population I960, Tables 5 and 5a.
xl Introduction to the 1967 Edition
during and immediately after World War I; all of them were
removed in the decade of the 1950's.
DuBois was particularly interested in the poor record of
Negroes as businessmen. In 1896, there were no more than 300
Negro-owned businesses in the city. The majority of them were
barbershops, catering establishments, and restaurants all ex
tensions of the servant role. And most of them were marginal,
with the exception of a few well-known caterers. There is a direct
relation, according to Eugene P. Foley, who has studied the
Negro businessman in Philadelphia and elsewhere, between the
ghettoization of the Negro and the growth of Negro businesses. 38
In fact, among Negroes, as among whites, immigrants to the city
seem more likely to go into business for themselves than older
residents. Thus in 1964, there were over 4000 Negro-owned busi
nesses in the city, most of them located within the boundaries of
the three Negro ghettos. Unfortunately, however, most of these
businesses were pretty much of the same marginal character as
those of DuBois' day. Along with the absence of responsible
leadership this lack of success in business enterprise was certainly
an important factor in the North Philadelphia riots of 1964. In her
study of the riots, for example, Lenora E. Berson found this to be
true.
The history of the Jews and of North Philadelphia com
bined to make the Jewish merchants the major representatives
of the white establishment in the area. But it was as whites and
as merchants and realtors rather than as Jews per se that they
bore the brunt of the Negroes' attack. Anti-Semitism was not a
primary factor in the rioting.
Nevertheless, the Jews do have a special and ambiguous
position in the Negro ghetto. In every large city, Jewish organ
izations and individuals have long been in the forefront of the
civil rights campaigns. In Philadelphia, two white board
members of the NAACP are Jews, as is the only white elected
official from North Central Philadelphia, State Senator Charles
Weiner. The two Negro-oriented radio stations in the city are
owned by Jews. It is likely that many, if not most, of North
Philadelphia's residents are treated by Jewish doctors, advised
by Jewish lawyers and served by Jewish community agencies.
38. Foley, op. cit., p. 569.
Introduction to the 1967 Edition xli
But the landlord, too, is likely to be Jewish, as is the grocer
and the man who owns the appliance store on the corner. All
too often the Negro sees himself as a victim of their exploi
tation, and the contrast between himself and the more affluent
businessmen of the community generates bitterness and re
sentment. 39
The living conditions in the North Philadelphia ghetto are still
deplorable and probably getting worse; and they are so de
humanizing largely because of the moral myopia of white
residents of the City of Brotherly Love. At the same time, there is
cause for hope if one takes DuBois' position that the ultimate
salvation of the Negro community depends on its "Talented
Tenth." He opened his famous essay on the "Talented Tenth"
as follows:
The Negro Race, like all races, is going to be saved by its
exceptional men. The problem of education, then, among
Negroes must first of all deal with the Talented Tenth; it is the
problem of developing the Best of this race that may guide the
Mass away from the contamination and death of the Worst, in
their own and other races. 40
Opportunities for the Talented Tenth within the Philadelphia
Negro community have opened up at an increasing rate since the
end of World War II. Of non-white Philadelphians aged twenty-
five and over, for example, the proportion that had finished high
school tripled, the proportion that had finished college doubled
between 1940 and 1960. Furthermore, in contrast to DuBois' day
when employment for educated Negroes was almost non-existent,
there are now more jobs available for educated Negroes than
there are educated Negroes to fill them. Finally, DuBois would
have been most gratified that, since World War II, talented
Negroes have moved into elite positions on the local bar and
bench, in business, in politics, and on the faculties of the local
colleges and universities.
In closing, perhaps the best way to gain a historical perspec-
39. Berson, op. tit., p. 46.
40. W. E. B. DuBois, "The Talented Tenth," in The Negro Problem
(New York, 1903), p. 33.
xlii Introduction to the 1967 Edition
tive on the dramatic changes in the opportunities that have
opened for talented Negroes since DuBois' day, might be to
speculate how he himself would now be received by the Univer
sity of Pennsylvania. And certainly there is no question that
today, if a gifted young Negro with a recent Ph.D. from Harvard,
a book published in the Harvard Historical Series, and two years
study abroad should apply for a position in the Sociology
Department, he would be welcomed with open arms as an As
sistant Professor at least, and at a salary of over $10,000 a year. In
fact, he would hardly need to apply; for he would have been
vigorously recruited; and he probably would not even consider
Pennsylvania because of the great demand for young Negro
sociologists at the very best sociology departments in the nation.
E.D.B.
University of Pennsylvania
June, 1967
SUPPLEMENTARY BIBLIOGRAPHY
The following selected bibliography will serve to bring DuBois'
bibliography up to date.
I. General Works on the Negro in America. If available in a paperback
edition, the citation is followed by (P).
Bardolph, Richard. The Negro Vanguard. New York: Holt, Rinehart
& Winston, 1959. (P)
Breyfogle, William A. Make Free: The Story of the Underground
Railroad. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1958.
Broderick, Francis L. W. E. B. DuBois: Negro Leader in a Time of
Crisis. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1959. (P)
Clark, Kenneth B. Dark Ghetto: Dilemmas of Social Power. New
York: Harper & Row, 1965.
Deutsch, Morton, and Collins, Mary E. Intenadal Housing: A Psycho
logical Evaluation of a Social Experiment. Minneapolis: Uni
versity of Minnesota Press, 1951.
Bollard, John. Caste and Class in a Southern Town. New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1937. (P)
Introduction to the 1967 Edition
Drake, St. Glair, and Cayton, Horace R. Black Metropolis: A Study
of Negro Life in a Northern City. New York: Harper & Row,
1962. (P)
DuBois, W. E. B. The Negro in Business. Atlanta, Ga.: Atlanta Uni
versity Press, 1899.
. "The Negroes of Farmville, Virginia: A Social Study," Bul
letin of the United States Department of Labor, III (January,
1898).
. "My Evolving Program for Negro Freedom," in Rayford W.
Logan, ed., What The Negro Wants. Chapel Hill; University of
North Carolina Press, 1944. (P)
Elkins, Stanley M. Slavery: A Problem in American Institutional Life.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1959. (P)
Foley, Eugene P. "The Negro Businessman: In Search of a Tradition,"
in Talcott Parsons and Kenneth B. Clark, eds., The Negro Amer
ican. Boston: Beacon Press, 1965. (P)
Franklin, John Hope. From Slavery to Freedom: A History of Amer
ican Negroes, 2d ed. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1956.
Frazier, E. Franklin. Black Bourgeoisie. New York: Free Press, 1957.
(P)
. The Negro in the United States, rev. ed. New York: Mac-
millan, 1957.
Glazer, Nathan, and Moynihan, Donald P. Beyond The Melting Pot:
The Negroes, Puerto Ricans, Jews, Italians and Irish in New
York City. Cambridge, Mass.: M.I.T. Press, 1963. (P)
Harris, Abram L. The Negro as Capitalist: A Study of Banking and
Business Among American Negroes. Philadelphia: American
Academy of Political and Social Science, 1936.
Logan, Rayford W. The Negro in the United States: A Brief History.
Princeton, N. J,: Van Nostrand, 1957. (P)
Lubell, Samuel. White and Black: Test of a Nation. New York:
Harper & Row, 1964.
McKay, Claude. Harlem: Negro Metropolis. New York: E. P. Dutton,
1940.
Myrdal, Gunnar. An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and
Modern Democracy. New York: Harper & Row, 1944. (P)
Redding, Saunders. The Lonesome Road: The Story of the Negro in
America. New York: Doubleday, 1958. (P)
Silberman, Charles E. Crisis in Black and White. New York: Random
House, 1964. (P)
Taeuber, Karl E. and Alma F. Negroes in Cities. Chicago: Aldine,
1965.
xliv Introduction to the 1967 Edition
Washington, Booker T. Up From Slavery: An Autobiography. New
York: Doubleday, 1901. (P)
Weaver, Robert C. The Negro Ghetto. New York: Har court, Brace &
World, 1948.
Wilson, James Q. Negro Politics: The Search for Leadership. New
York: Free Press, 1961.
Woodward, C. Vann. The Strange Career of Jim Crow. New York:
Oxford University Press, 1957. (P)
II. Publications Relevant to The Philadelphia Negro.
Alexander, Ramond Pace. "The Struggle Against Racism in Philadel
phia from 1923 to 1948." Speech delivered before The Business
and Professional Group of the American Jewish Congress,
Philadelphia, 1950.
Berson, Lenora E. Case Study of a Riot: The Philadelphia Story. New
York: Institute of Human Relations Press, 1966.
Drexel Institute of Technology. An Analysis of Little Businessmen in
Philadelphia. Philadelphia, 1964.
Mossell, Sadie Tanner. "The Standard of Living Among One Hundred
Negro Migrant Families in Philadelphia," The Annals of the
American Academy of Social and Political Science, XCVIII, 1921.
City of Philadelphia, Commission on Human Relations. Philadelphia's
Non-White Population 1960. Report No. 1, Demographic Data;
Report No. 2, Housing Data; Report No. 3, Socioeconomic Data.
. General Socio-Economic Characteristics and Trends, Phila
delphia and Environs. Public Information Bulletin 8-C, April,
1963.
The Philadelphia Colored Directory. Philadelphia Colored Directory
Co*., 1907.
Population of Philadelphia Sections and Wards: 1860-1960. Phila
delphia City Planning Commission, 1963.
Scott, Emmett J. Negro Migration During The War., New York:
Oxford University Press, 1920.
pj^w-jc^;
-$$4*0*.-
[Taken from publications of the American Academy, No. 150, fitly 2, r8g$.
The large figures refer to voting precincts.}
1 1 #A**Y3J*K^
771 ! pnrvirin j
- I I I r^^v^> I ,
THE PHILADELPHIA NEGRO.
CHAPTER I.
THE SCOPE OF THIS STUDY.
1. General Aim. This study seeks to present the results
of an inquiry undertaken by the University of Pennsylvania
into the condition of the forty thousand or more people of
Negro blood now living in the city of Philadelphia. This
inquiry extended over a period of fifteen months and sought
to ascertain something of the geographical distribution of
this race, their occupations and daily life, their homes, their
organizations, and, above all, their relation to their million
white fellow-citizens. The final design of the work is to
lay before the public such a body of information as may be
a safe guide for all efforts toward the solution of the many
Negro problems of a great American city.
2. The Methods of Inquiry. The investigation began
August the first, 1896, and, saving two months, continued
until December the thirty-first, 189.7. The work com
menced with a house-to-house canvass of the Seventh
Ward. This long narrow ward, extending from South
Seventh street to the Schuylkill River and from Spruce
street to South street, is an historic centre of Negro popu
lation, and contains to-day a fifth of all the Negroes in
this city. 1 It was therefore thought best to make an
1 1 shall throughout this study use the term " Negro," to designate all
persons of Negro descent, although the appellation is to some extent
illogical. I shall, moreover, capitalize the word, because I believe that
eight million Americans are entitled to a capital letter.
(i)
2 The Scope of This Study. [Chap. L
intensive study of conditions in this district, and afterward
to supplement and correct this information by general
observation and inquiry in other parts of the city.
Six schedules were used among the nine thousand
Negroes of this ward ; a family schedule with the usual
questions as to the mimber of members, their age and sex,
their conjugal condition and birthplace, their ability to
read and write, their occupation and earnings, etc. ; an
individual schedule with similar inquiries ; a home
schedule with questions as to the number of rooms, the
rent, the lodgers, the conveniences, etc. ; a street schedule
to collect data as to the various small streets and alleys,
and an institution schedule for organizations and institu
tions ; finally a slight variation of the individual schedule
was used for house-servants living at their places of employ
ment. 2
This study of the central district of Negro settlement
furnished a key txxthe situation in the city ; in the other
wards therefore a general survey was taken to note any
striking differences of condition, to ascertain the general
distribution of these people, and to collect information and
statistics as to organizations, property, crime and pauperism,
political activity, and the like. This general inquiry, while
it lacked precise methods of measurement in most cases,
served nevertheless to correct the errors and illustrate the
meaning of the statistical material obtained in the house-
to-house canvass.
Throughout the study such official statistics and histori
cal matter as seemed reliable were used, and experienced
persons, both white and colored, were freely consulted.
3. The Credibility of the Results. The best available
methods of sociological research are at present so liable to
inaccuracies that the careful student discloses the results
of individual research with diffidence ; he knows that they
are liable to error from the seemingly ineradicable faults of
2 See Appendix A for form of schedules used.
Sect, 3.] The Credibility of the Results. 3
the statistical method, to even greater error from the
methods of general observation, and, above all, he must
ever tremble lest some personal bias, some moral conviction
or some unconscious trend of thought due to previous
training, has to a degree distorted the picture in his view.
Convictions on all great matters of human interest one
must have to a greater or less degree, and they will enter
to some extent into the most cold-blooded scientific research
as a disturbing factor.
Nevertheless here are social problems before us demand
ing careful study, questions awaiting satisfactory answers.
We must study, we must investigate, we must attempt to
solve ; and the utmost that the world can demand is, not
lack of human interest and moral conviction, but rather
the heart-quality of fairness, and an earnest desire for the
truth despite its possible unpleasantness.
In a house-to-house investigation there are, outside the
attitude of the investigator, many sources of error : mis
apprehension, vagueness and forgetfulness, and deliberate
deception on the part of the persons questioned, greatly
vitiate the value of the answers ; on the other hand, con
clusions formed by the best trained and most conscientious
students on the basis of general observation and inquiry-
are really inductions from but a few of the multitudinous
facts of social life, and these may easily fall far short of
being essential or typical.
The use of both of these methods which has been
attempted in this study may perhaps have corrected to
some extent the errors of each. Again, whatever personal
equation is to be allowed for in the whole study is one
unvarying quantity, since the work was done by one inves
tigator, and the varying judgments of a score of census-
takers was thus avoided. 3
3 The appended study of domestic service was done by Miss Isabel
Eaton, Fellow of the College Settlements Association. Outside of this
the- work was done by the one investigator.
4 The Scope of This Study. [Chap. I.
Despite all drawbacks and difficulties, however, the
main results of the inquiry seem credible. They agree, to
a large extent, with general public opinion, and in other
respects they seem either logically explicable or in accord
with historical precedents. They are therefore presented
to the public, not as complete and without error, but as
possessing on the whole enough reliable matter to serve as
the scientific basis of further study, and of practical reform.
CHAPTER II.
THE PROBLEM.
4. The Negro Problems of Philadelphia. In Phila
delphia, as elsewhere in the United States, the existence of
certain peculiar social problems affecting the Negro people
are plainly manifest. Here is a large group of people
perhaps forty-five thousand, a city within a city who do
not form an integral part of the larger social group. This
in itself is not altogether unusual ; there are other unassim-
ilated groups : Jews, Italians, even Americans ; and yet
in the case of the Negroes the segregation is more con
spicuous, more patent to the eye, and so intertwined with
a long historic evolution, with peculiarly pressing social
problems of poverty, ignorance, crime and labor, that the
Negro problem far surpasses in scientific interest and social
gravity most of the other race or class questions.
The student of these questions must first ask, What is
the real condition of this group of human beings ? Of
whom is it composed, what sub-groups and classes exist,
what sort of individuals are being considered ? Further, the
student must clearly recognize that a complete study must
not confine itself to the group, but must specially notice
the environment ; the physical environment of city, sec
tions and houses, the far mightier social environment the
surrounding world of custom, wish, whim, and thought
which envelops this group and powerfully influences its
social development.
Nor does the clear recognition of the field of investiga
tion simplify the work of actual study ; it rather increases
it, by revealing lines of inquiry far broader in scope than
first thought suggests. To the average Philaclelphian the
(5)
6 The Problem. [Chap. II.
whole Negro question reduces itself to a study of certain
slum districts. His mind reverts to Seventh and Lombard
streets and to Twelfth and Kater streets of to-day, or to
St. Mary's in the past. Continued and widely known
charitable work in these sections makes the problem of
poverty familiar to him ; bold and daring crime too often
traced to these centres has called his attention to a prob
lem of crime, while the scores of loafers, idlers and pros
titutes who crowd the sidewalks here night and day
remind him of a problem of work.
All this is true all these problems are there and of
threatening intricacy ; unfortunately, however, the interest
of the ordinary man of affairs is apt to stop here. Crime,
poverty and idleness affect his interests unfavorably and
he would have them stopped ; he looks upon these slums
and slum characters as unpleasant things which should in
some way be removed for the best interests of all. The
social student agrees with him so far, but must point out
that the removal of unpleasant features from our compli
cated modern life is a delicate operation requiring know
ledge and skill ; that a slum is not a simple fact, it is a
symptom and that to know the removable causes of the
Negro slums of Philadelphia requires a study that takes
one far beyond the slum districts. For few Philadelphians
realize how the Negro population has grown and spread.
There was a time in the memory of living men when a
small district near Sixth and Lombard streets compre
hended the great mass of the Negro population of the
city. This is no longer so. Very early the stream of the
black population started northward, but the increased
foreign immigration of 1830 and later turned it back.
It started south also but was checked by poor houses and
worse police protection. Finally with gathered momen
tum the emigration from the slums started west, rolling on
slowly and surely, taking Lombard street as its main
thoroughfare, gaining early foothold in West Philadelphia,
Sect. 4.] The Negro Problems of Philadelphia. j
and turning at the Schuylkill River north and south to
the newer portions of the city.
Thus to-day the Negroes are scattered in every ward of
the city, and the great mass of them live far from the whilom
centre of colored settlement. What, then, of this great
mass of the population? Manifestly they form a class
with social problems of their own the problems of the
Thirtieth Ward differ from the problems of the Fifth, as
the black inhabitants differ. In the former ward we have
represented the rank and file of Negro working-people ;
laborers and servants, porters and waiters. This is at pres
ent the great middle class of Negroes feeding the slums
on the one hand and the upper class on the other. Here
are social questions and conditions which must receive the
most careful attention and patient interpretation.
Not even here, however, can the social investigator stop.
He knows that every group has its upper class ; it may be
numerically small and socially of little weight, and yet its
study is necessary to the comprehension of the whole it
forms the realized ideal of the group, and as it is true that
a nation must to some extent be measured by its slums, it
is also true that it can only be understood and finally judged
by its upper class.
The best class of Philadelphia Negroes, though some
times forgotten or ignored in discussing the Negro prob
lems, is nevertheless known to many Philadelphians.
Scattered throughout the better parts of the Seventh
Ward, and on Twelfth, lower Seventeenth and Nineteenth
streets, and here and there in the residence wards of the
northern, southern, and western sections of the city is a class
of caterers, clerks, teachers, professional men, small mer
chants, etc., who constitute the aristocracy of the Negroes.
Many are well-to-do, some are wealthy, all are fairly edu
cated, and some liberally trained. Here too are social
problems differing from those of the other classes, and
differing too from those of the whites of a corresponding
8 The Problem. [Chap. II.
grade, because of the peculiar social environment in which
the whole race finds itself, which the whole race feels, but
which touches this highest class at most points and tells
upon them most decisively.
Many are the misapprehensions and misstatements as to
the social environment of Negroes in a great Northern city.
Sometimes it is said, here they are free ; they have the
same chance as the Irishman, the Italian, or the Swede ; at
other times it is said, the environment is such that it is
really more oppressive than the situation in Southern cities.
The student must ignore both of these extreme statements
and seek to extract from a complicated mass of facts the
tangible evidence of a social atmosphere surrounding
Negroes, which differs from that surrounding most whites ;
of a different mental attitude, moral standard, and economic
judgment shown toward Negroes than toward most other
folk. That such a difference exists and can now and then
plainly be seen, few deny ; but just how far it goes and
how large a factor it is in the Negro problems, nothing but
careful study and measurement can reveal.
Such then are the phenomena of social condition and
environment which this study proposes to describe, analyze,
and, so far as possible, interpret.
5. Plan of Presentment. The study as taken up here
divides itself roughly into four parts : the history of the
Negro people in the city, their present condition considered
as individuals, their condition as an organized social group,
and their physical and social environment. To the history
of the Negro but two chapters are devoted a brief sketch
although the subject is worthy of more extended study
than the character of this essay permitted.
Six chapters consider the general condition of the
Negroes; their number, age and sex, conjugal condition,
and birthplace; what degree of education they have
obtained, and how they earn a living. All these subjects
are treated usually for the Seventh Ward somewhat
Sect. 5.] Plan of Presentment. 9
minutely, then more generally for the city, and finally such
historical material is adduced as is available for com
parison.
Three chapters are devoted to the group life of the
Negro ; this includes a study of the family, of property, and
of organizations of all sorts. It also takes up such phe
nomena of social maladjustment and individual depravity
as crime, pauperism and alcoholism.
One chapter is devoted to the difficult question of en
vironment, both physical and social, one to certain results
of the contact of the white and black races, one to Negro
suffrage, and a word of general advice in the line of social
reform is added.
CHAPTER III.
THE NEGRO IN PHILADELPHIA, 1638-1820.
6. General Survey. Few States present better oppor
tunities for the continuous study of a group of Negroes
than Pennsylvania. The Negroes were brought here early,
were held as slaves along with many white serfs. They
became the subjects of a protracted abolition controversy,
and were finally emancipated by gradual process. Al though >
for the most part, in a low and degraded condition, and
thrown upon their own resources in competition with white
labor, they were nevertheless so inspired by their new free
dom and so guided by able leaders that for something like
forty years they made commendable progress. Meantime,
however, the immigration of foreign laborers began, the
new economic era of manufacturing was manifest in the
land, and a national movement for the abolition of slavery
had its inception. The lack of skilled Negro laborers for
the factories, the continual stream of Southern fugitives
and rural freedmen into the city, the intense race antipathy
of the Irish and others, together with intensified prejudice
of whites who did not approve of agitation against slavery
all this served to check the development of the Negro,
to increase crime and pauperism, and at one period resulted
in riot, violence, and bloodshed, which drove many Negroes
from the city.
Economic adjustment and the enforcement of law finally
allayed this excitement, and another period of material
prosperity and advance among the Negroes followed. Then
came the inpouring of the ne^ ""y emancipated blacks from
the South and the economic struggle of the artisans to main
tain wages, which brought on a crisis in the city, manifested
again by idleness, crime and pauperism.
(10)
Sect. 7.] Transplanting of the Negro, 1638-1760. n
Thus we see that twice the Philadelphia Negro has, with
a fair measure of success, begun an interesting social devel
opment, and twice through the migration of barbarians a
dark age has settled on his age of revival. These same
phenomena would have marked the advance of many other
elements of our population if they had been as definitely
isolated into one indivisible group. No differences of social
condition allowed any Negro to escape from the group,
although such escape was continually the rule among Irish,
Germans, and other whites.
7. The Transplanting of the Negro, 1638-1760. The
Dutch, and possibly the Swedes, had already planted
slavery on the Delaware when Penn and the Quakers
arrived in i682. 1 One of Penn's first acts was tacitly to
recognize the serfdom of Negroes by a provision of the
Free Society of Traders that they should serve fourteen
years and then become serfs a provision which he himself
and all the others soon violated. 2
Certain German settlers who came soon after Penn, and
who may or may not have been active members of the
Society of Friends, protested sturdily against slavery in
1688, but the Quakers found the matter too " weighty." 3
Five years later the radical seceders under Kieth made the
existence of slavery a part of their attack on the society.
Nevertheless the institution of slavery in the colony con
tinued to grow, and the number of blacks in Philadelphia
so increased that as early as 1693 we find an order of the
1 Cf. Scharf-Wcstcott's " History of Philadelphia," I, 65, 76. DuBois'
" Slave Trade/' p. 24.
2 Hazard's "Annals," 553. Thomas' "Attitude of Friends Toward
Slavery," 266.
3 There is some controversy as to whether these Germans were actually
Friends or not; the weight of testimony seems to be that they were.
See, however, Thomas as above, p. 267, and Appendix. " Pennsylvania
Magazine," IV, 28-31 r The Critic, August 27, 1897. DuBois' "Slave
Trade," p. 20, 203. For copy of protest, see published fac-simile and
Appendix of Thomas. For further proceedings of Quakers, see Thomas
and DuBois, passim.
12 Negro in Philadelphia, 1638-1820. [Chap. III.
Council against the "tumultuous gatherings of the negroes
of the towne of Philadelphia, on the first dayes of the
weeke." 4
In 1696 the Friends began a cautious dealing with the
subject, which in the course of a century led to the abolition
of slavery. This growth of moral sentiment was slow but
unwaveringly progressive, and far in advance of contem
porary thought in civilized lands. At first the Friends
sought merely to regulate slavery in a general way and
prevent its undue growth. They therefore suggested in
the Yearly Meeting of 1696, and for some time thereafter,
that since traders " have flocked in amongst us and . . .
increased and multiplied negroes amongst us," members
ought not to encourage the further importation of slaves,
as there were enough for all purposes. In 1711 a more
active discouragement of the slave trade was suggested,
and in 1716 the Yearly Meeting intimated that even the
buying of imported slaves might not be the best policy,
although the Meeting hastened to call this u caution, not
censure."
By 1719 the Meeting was certain that their members
ought not to engage in the slave trade, and in 1730 they
declared the buying of slaves imported by others to be
" disagreeable.'' At this milestone they lingered thirty
years for breath and courage, for the Meeting had evidently
distanced many of its more conservative members. In
1743 the question of importing slaves, or buying imported
slaves, was made a disciplinary query, and in 1754,
spurred by the crusade of Say, Woolman and Benezet,
offending members were disciplined. In the important
gathering of 1758 the same golden rule was laid down as
that with which the Germans, seventy years previous, had
taunted them, and the institution of slavery was categor
ically condemned/ Here they rested until 1775, when,
* " Colonial Records," I, $80-81.
5 Thomas, 276; Whittier Intro, to Woolman, 16.
Sect 7.] Transplanting of the Negro, 1638-1760. 13
after a struggle of eighty-seven years, they decreed the
exclusion of slaveholders from fellowship in the Society.
While in the councils of the State Church the freedom
of Negroes was thus evolving, the legal status of Negroes
of Pennsylvania was being laid. Four bills were intro
duced in 1700: one regulating slave marriages was lost;
the other three were passed, but the Act for the Trial of
Negroes a harsh measure providing death, castration and
whipping for punishments, and forbidding the meeting
together of more than four Negroes was afterward disal
lowed by the Queen in Council. The remaining acts
became laws, and provided for a small duty on imported
slaves and the regulation of trade with slaves and ser
vants. 6
In 1706 another act for the trial of Negroes was passed
and allowed. It differed but slightly from the Act of 1700 ;
it provided that Negroes should be tried for crimes by two
justices of the peace and a jury of six freeholders ; rob
bery and rape were punished by branding and exportation^
homicide by death, and stealing by whipping ; 7 the meeting
of Negroes without permission was prohibited. Between
this time and 1760 statutes were passed regulating the sale
of liquor to slaves and the use of firearms by them ; and
also the general regulative Act of 1726, u for the Better
Regulation of Negroes in this Province." This act was
especially for the punishment of crime, the suppression of
pauperism, the prevention of intermarriage, and the like
that is, for regulating the social and economic status of
Negroes, free and enslaved. 8
Meantime the number of Negroes in the colony con
tinued to increase; by 1720 there were between 2500 and
5000 Negroes in Pennsylvania ; they rapidly increased
until there were a large number by 1750 some say 11,000
*See Appendix B.
7 ' ' Statutes-at-Large, ' ' Ch. 143, 8Si . See Appendix B.
8 " Statutes-at-Large, M III, pp. 250, 254; IV, 59 ff. See Appendix B.
14 Negro in Philadelphia, j6jS-/S2O. [Chap. III.
or more when they decreased by war and sale, so that the
census of 1790 found 10,274 in the State. 9
The slave duties form a pretty good indication of the
increase of Negro population. 10 The duty in 1700 was
from 6^. to zos. This was increased, and in 1712, owing
to the large importations and the turbulent actions of
Negroes in neighboring States, a prohibitive duty of ^20
was laid. 11 England, however, who was on the eve of
signing the Assiento with Spain, soon disallowed this act
and the duty was reduced to ^5. The influx of Negroes
after the English had signed the huge slave contract
with Spain was so large that the Act of 1726 laid a restrict
ive duty of ;io. For reasons not apparent, but possibly
connected with fluctuations in the value of the currency,
this duty was reduced to 2 in 1729, and seems to have
remained at that figure until 1761.
The ^10 duty was restored in 1761, and probably helped
much to prevent importation, especially when we remem
ber the work of the Quakers at this period. In 1773 a
prohibitive duty of ^20 was laid, and the Act of 1780
finally prohibited importation. After 1760 it is probable
that the efforts of the Quakers to get rid of their slaves
made the export slave trade much larger than the
importation.
Very early in the history of the colony the presence of
unpaid slaves for life greatly disturbed the economic con
dition of free laborers. While most of the white laborers
were indentured servants the competition was not so much
felt ; when they became free laborers, however, and were
joined by other laborers, the cry against slave competition
was soon raised. The particular grievance was the hiring
out of slave mechanics by masters ; in 1708 the free
white mechanics protested to the Legislature against this
'DuBois* " Slave Trade/' p. 23, note, XJ. S. Census.
10 See Appendix B. Cf. DuBois' <* Slave Trade," passim.
11 PuBois* " Slave Trade," p. 206.
Sect. 8.] Emancipation, 1760-1780.
custom, 12 and this was one of the causes of the Act of
in all probability. When by 1722 the number of slaves had
further increased, the whites again protested against the
" employment of blacks," apparently including both free
and slave. The Legislature endorsed this protest and
declared that the custom of employing black laborers and
mechanics was " dangerous and injurious to the repub
lic." 13 Consequently the Act of 1726 declared the hiring
of their time by Negro slaves to be illegal, and sought to
restrict emancipation on the ground that " free negroes
are an idle and slothful people," and easily become public
burdens. 14
As to the condition of the Negroes themselves we catch
only glimpses here and there. Considering the times, the
system of slavery was not harsh and the slaves received
fair attention. There appears, however, to have been
much trouble with them on account of stealing, some
drunkenness and general disorder. The preamble of the
Act of 1726 declares that "it too often happens that
Negroes commit felonies and other heinous crimes," and
that much pauperism arises from emancipation. This act
facilitated punishment of such crimes by providing indem
nification for a master if his slave suffered capital punish
ment. They were declared to be often " tumultuous " in
1693, to be found "cursing, gaming, swearing, and com
mitting many other disorders " in 1732 ; in 1738 and 1741
they were also called "disorderly n in city ordinances. 15
In general, we see among the slaves at this time the low
condition of morals which we should expect in a barbar
ous people forced to labor in a strange land.
8. Emancipation, 1760-1780. The years 1750-1760
mark the culmination of the slave system in Pennsylvania
I'Scharf-Westcott's " History of Philadelphia," I, 200.
*s Watson's ''Annals," (Ed. 1850) I, 98.
u See Appendix B.
*Cf, Chapter XIII.
1 6 Negro in Philadelphia, 1638-1820. [Chap. III.
and the beginning of its decline. By that time most
shrewd observers saw that the institution was an economic
failure, and were consequently more disposed than formerly
to listen to the earnest representations of the great anti-
slavery agitators of that period. There were, to be sure,
strong vested interests still to be fought. When the /io
duty act of 1761 was pending, the slave merchants of the
city, including many respectable names, vigorously pro
tested ; " ever desirous to extend the Trade of this Prov
ince," they declared that they had " seen for some time
past the many inconveniencys the Inhabitants have suffered
for want of Labourers and Artificers," and had conse
quently u for some time encouraged the importation of
Negroes." They prayed at the very least for delay in
passing this restrictive measure. After debate and alterca
tion with the governor the measure finally passed, indi
cating renewed strength and determination on the part of
the abolition party. 16
Meantime voluntary emancipation increased. Sandiford
emancipated his slaves in 1733, and there were by 1790 in
Philadelphia about one thousand black freedmen. A school
for these and others was started in 1770 at the instance of
Benezet, and had at first twenty-two children in attend
ance. 17 The war brought a broader and kindlier feeling
toward the Negroes ; before its end the Quakers had
ordered manumission, 18 and several attempts were made to
prohibit slavery by statute. Finally, in 1780, the Act for
the Gradual Abolition of Slavery was passed. 19 This act >
beginning with a strong condemnation of slavery, pro
vided that no child thereafter born in Pennsylvania should
be a slave. The children of slaves born after 1780 were to
be bond-servants until twenty-eight years of age that is.
""Colonial Records," VIII, 576; DuBois' ''Slave Trade/' p. 23.
"Cf. Pamphlet: "Sketch of the Schools for Blacks/' also Chapter VIII.
I8 Cf, Thomas' "Attitude of Friends," etc., p. 272.
i* Dallas' "Laws," I, 838, Ch, 881; DuBois' " Slave Trade," p, 225.
Sect. 9.] The Rise of the Freedman, 1780-1820. 17
"beginning with the year 1808 there was to be a series of
emancipations. Side by side with this growth of emanci
pation sentiment went an increase in the custom of hiring
out Negro slaves and servants, which increased the old
competition with the whites. The slaves were owned in
small lots, especially in Philadelphia, one or two to a
family, and were used either as house servants or artisans.
As a result they were encouraged to learn trades and seem
to have had the larger share of the ordinary trades of the
city in their hands. Many of the slaves in the better
families became well-known characters as Alice, who for
forty years took the tolls at Dunk's Ferry ; Virgil Warder,
who once belonged to Thomas Penn, and Robert Venable,
a man of some intelligence. 20
9. The Rise of the Freedman, 1780-1820. A careful
study of the process and effect of emancipation in the
different States of the Union would throw much light on
our national experiment and its ensuing problems. Espe
cially is this true of the experiment in Pennsylvania ; to
be sure, emancipation here was gradual and the number
emancipated small in comparison with the population, and
yet the main facts are similar: the freeing of ignorant
slaves and giving them a chance, almost unaided from
without, to make a way in the world. The first result was
widespread poverty and idleness. This was followed, as
the number of freedmen increased, by a rush to the city.
Between 1790 and 1800 the Negro population of Philadel
phia County increased from 2489 to 6880, or 176 per cent,
against an increase of 43 per cent among the whites. The
first result of this contact with city life was to stimulate
the talented and aspiring freedmen; and this was the
easier because the freedman had in Philadelphia at that
time a secure economic foothold ; he performed all kinds
of domestic service, all common labor and much of the
skilled labor. The group being thus secure in its daily
*> Cf. Watson's "Annals" (Ed. 1850), I, 557, 101-103, 601, 602, 515.
1 8 Negro in Philadelphia, 1638-1820. [Chap. III.
bread needed only leadership to make some advance in
general culture and social effectiveness. Some sporadic
cases of talent occur, as Derham, the Negro physician,
whom Dr. Benjamin Rush, in 1788, found "very learned" 21
Especially, however, to be noted are Richard Allen, 22 a
former slave of the Chew family, and Absalom Jones, 23 a
Delaware Negro. These two were real leaders and actually
succeeded to a remarkable degree in organizing the freed-
men for group action. Both had bought their own freedom
and that of their families by hiring their time Allen
being a blacksmith by trade, and Jones also having a trade.
When, in 1792, the terrible epidemic drove Philadelphians
away so quickly that many did not remain to bury the
dead, Jones and Allen quietly took the work in hand,
spending some of their own funds and doing so well that
they were publicly commended by Mayor Clarkson in
I794- 24
The great work of these men, however, lay among their
own race and arose from religious difficulties. As in other
colonies, the process by which the Negro slaves learned the
English tongue and were converted to Christianity is not
clear. The subject of the moral instruction of slaves had
early troubled Penn and he had urged Friends to provide
meetings for them. 25 The newly organized Methodists soon
attracted a number of the more intelligent, though the
81 The American Museum, 1789, pp, 61-62.
22 For life of Allen, see his " Autobiography," and Payne's " History
of the A. M. E. Church."
28 For life of Jones, see Douglass' "Episcopal Church of St. Thomas.'*
24 The testimonial was dated January 23, 1794, and was as follows:
" Having, during the prevalence of the late malignant disorder, had
almost daily opportunities of seeing the conduct of Absalom Jones and
Richard Allen, and the people employed by them to bury the dead, I,
with cheerfulness give this testimony of my approbation of their pro
ceedings as far as the same came under my notice. Their diligence,
attention and decency of deportment, afforded me at the time much
satisfaction. WIWMAM CLARKSON, Mayor."
From Douglass' "St. Thomas' Church. "
35 See Thomas, p. 266.
Sect 9.] The Rise of the Freedman y 17801820* 19
masses seem at the end of the last century not to have been
church-goers or Christians to any considerable extent. The
small number that went to church were wont to worship at
St. George's, Fourth and Vine ; for years both free Negroes
and slaves worshiped here and were made welcome.
Soon, however, the church began to be alarmed at the
increase in its black communicants which the immigration
from the country was bringing, and attempted to force
them into the gallery. The crisis came one Sunday
morning during prayer when Jones and Allen, with a
crowd of followers, refused to worship except in their
accustomed places, and finally left the church in a body. 26
This band immediately met together and on April 12,
1787, formed a curious sort of ethical and beneficial brother
hood called the Free African Society. How great a step
this was, we of to-day scarcely realize ; we must remind
ourselves that it was the first wavering step of a people
toward organized social life. This society was more than
a mere club : Jones and Allen were its leaders and recog
nized chief officers ; a certain parental discipline was
exercised over its members and mutual financial aid given.
The preamble of the articles of association says : " Where
as, Absalom Jones and Richard Allen, two men of the
African Race, who for their religious life and conversation,
have obtained a good report among men, these persons
from a love to the people of their own complexion whom
they beheld with sorrow, because of their irreligious and
uncivilized state, often communed together upon this pain
ful and important subject in order to form some kind of
religious body ; but there being too few to be found under
the like concern, and those who were, differed in their
religious sentiments ; with these circumstances they labored
for some time, till it was proposed after a serious commu
nication of sentiments that a society should be formed
without regard to religious tenets, provided the persons
Allen's "Autobiography," and Douglass* "St. Thomas!"
20 Negro in Philadelphia^ 1638-1820. [Chap. III.
lived an orderly and sober life, in order to support one
another in sickness, and for the benefit of their widows
and fatherless children.'' 27
The society met first at private houses, then at the
Friends' Negro school house. For a time they leaned
toward Quakerism; each month three monitors were
appointed to have oversight over the members ; loose
marriage customs were attacked by condemning cohabita
tion, expelling offenders and providing a simple Quaker-
like marriage ceremony. A fifteen-minute pause for silent
prayer opened the meetings. As the representative body
of the free Negroes of the city, this society opened com
munication with free Negroes in Boston, Newport and
other places. The Negro Union of Newport, R. L, pro
posed in 1788 a general exodus to Africa, but the Free
African Society soberly replied: " With regard to the
emigration to Africa you mention we have at present but
little to communicate on that head, apprehending every
pious man is a good citizen of the whole world." The
society co-operated with the Abolition Society in studying
the condition of the free blacks in 1790. At all times they
seem to have taken good care of their sick and dead and
helped the widows and orphans to some extent Their
methods of relief were simple: they agreed "for the
benefit of each other to advance one-shilling in silver
Pennsylvania currency a month ; and after one year's sub
scription, from the dole hereof then to hand forth to the
needy of the Society if any should require, the sum of
three shillings and nine pence per week of the said money ;
provided the necessity is not brought on them by their
own imprudence. 1 ' In 1790 the society had ^42 9^. id.
on deposit in the Bank of North America, and had applied
for a grant of the Potter's Field to be set aside as a burial
ground for them, in a petition signed by Dr. Rush, Tench
Coxe and others.
"Douglass' "St. Thomas'"
Sect. 9.] The Rise of the Freedman, i?8o~i82o. 21
It was, however, becoming clearer and clearer to the
leaders that only a strong religious bond could keep this
untrained group together. They would probably have
become a sort of institutional church at first if the question
of religious denomination had been settled among them ;
but it had not been, and for about six years the question
was still pending. The tentative experiment in Quakerism
had failed, being ill suited to the low condition of the rank
and file of the society. Both Jones and Allen believed that
Methodism was best suited to the needs of the Negro, but
the majority of the society, still nursing the memory of St.
George's, inclined toward the Episcopal church. Here came
the parting of the ways : Jones was a slow introspective
man, with a thirst for knowledge, with high aspirations for
his people; Allen was a shrewd, quick, popular leader,
positive and dogged and yet far-seeing in his knowledge of
Negro character. Jones therefore acquiesced in the judg
ment of the majority, served and led them conscientiously
and worthily, and eventually became the first Negro rector
in the Episcopal church of America. About 1790 Allen
and a few followers withdrew from the Free African
Society, formed an independent Methodist church which
first worshiped in his blacksmith's shop on Sixth near
Lombard. Eventually this leader became the founder and
first bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church of
America an organization which now has 500,000 mem
bers, and is by long odds the vastest and most remarkable
product of American Negro civilization. 28
Jones and the Free African Society took immediate steps
to secure a church ; a lot was bought at the corner of Fifth
and Adelphi streets in February, 1792, and by strenuous
effort a church was erected and dedicated on the seventeenth
28 There is on the part of the A. M. B. Church a disposition to ignore
Allen's withdrawal from the Free African Society, and to date the A. M.
B. Church from the founding of that society, making it older than St.
Thomas. This, however, is contrary to Allen's own statement in his
" Autobiography. " The point, however, is of little real consequence.
22 Negro in Philadelphia^ 1638-1820. [Chap. III.
of July, 1794. This was the first Negro church in America,
and known as the First African Church of St. Thomas ; in
the vestibule of the church was written : "The people that
walked in darkness have seen a great light" Bethel
Church was erected by Allen and his followers in 1796, the
same year that a similar movement in New York estab
lished the Zion Methodist Church. In 1794, too, the
Methodists of St. George's, viewing with some chagrin the
widespread withdrawal of Negroes from their body, estab
lished a mission at Camperdown, in the northeastern part
of the city, which eventually became the present Zoar
Church.
The general outlook for the Negroes at this period was
encouraging, notwithstanding the low condition of the
masses of the race. In 1788 Pennsylvania amended the
Act of 1780, so as to prevent the internal and foreign slave
trade, and correct kidnapping and other abuses that had
arisen. * The convention which adopted the Constitution of
1790 had, in spite of opposition in the convention, refused
to insert the word " white " in the qualifications for voters,
and thus gave the right of suffrage to free Negro property
holders ; a right which they held, and, in most counties of
the State, exercised until 1837. 3<) The general conference
of Abolition Societies, held in Philadelphia in 1794, started
an agitation which, when reinforced by the news of the
Haytian revolt, resulted in the national statute of 1794, for
bidding the export slave trade. 8l In 1799 and 1800 Absalom
Jones led the Negroes to address a petition to the Legisla
ture, praying for immediate abolition of slavery, and to
Congress against the fugitive slave law, and asking pros
pective emancipation for all Negroes. This latter petition
was presented by Congressman Wain, and created an uproar
Carey & Bioren, Ch. 394. DuBois* '* Slave Trade," p. 231.
30 The constitution, as reported, had the word "white,** but this was
struck out at the instance of Gallatin. Cf. Ch. XVII.
Cf. DuBois' "Slave Trade, " Chapter VII.
Sect. 9.] The Rise of the Freedman, 1780-1820. 23
in the House of Representatives ; it was charged that
the petition was instigated by the Haytian revolutionists
and finally the Negroes were censured for certain parts of
the petition. sa
The condition of the Negroes of the city in the last
decade of the eighteenth and the first two decades of the
nineteenth century, although without doubt bad, slowly
improved ; an insurance society, in 1796, took the benefi
cial features of the old Free African Society. Some small
essays were made in business, mostly in small street stands,
near the wharves ; and many were in the trades of all kinds.
Between 1800 and 1810 the city Negro population con
tinued to increase, so that at the latter date there were
100,688 whites and 10,522 blacks in the city, the Negroes
thus forming the largest per cent of the population of the
city that they have ever attained. The free Negroes also
began to increase from the effect of the abolition law.
The school established in 1770 continued, and was endowed
by bequests from whites and Negroes. It had 414 pupils
by 1813. In this same year there were six Negro churches
and eleven benevolent societies. When the war broke out
many Philadelphia Negroes were engaged on land and sea.
Among these was James Forten a fine character, expres
sive of the best Negro development of the time. Born in
1766, and educated by Benezet, he " was a gentleman by
nature, easy in manner and able in intercourse ; popular as
a man of trade or gentleman of the pave, and well received
by the gentry of lighter shade." M For years he conducted
a sail-making trade, employing both whites and Negroes.
In 1814 he, Jones, Allen and others were asked, in the
midst of the alarm felt at the approach of the British, to
raise colored troops. A meeting was called and 2500
volunteers secured, or three-fourths of the adult male
** " Annals of Congress," 6 Cong., ISess., pp. 229-45. DuBois' "Slave
Trade, " pp. 81-83.
88 Quoted by W. C. Bolivar in Philadelphia Tribune.
24 Negro in Philadelphia^ 1638-1820* [Chap. III.
population ; they marched to Gray's Ferry and threw up
fortifications. A battalion for service in the field was
formed, but the war closed before they reached the front. 3 *
The Negroes at this time held about $250,000 of city
property, and on the whole showed great progress since
1780. At the same time there were many evidences of the
effects of slavery. The first set of men emancipated by
law were freed in 1808, and probably many entitled to free
dom were held longer than the law allowed or sold out of
the State. As late as 1794 some Quakers still held slaves,
and the papers of the day commonly contain such adver
tisements, as :
" To be Sold for want of Employ, For a term of years, a
smart active Negro boy, fifteen years of age. Enquire at
Robert McGee's board yard, Vine street wharf." 35
^Delany's "Colored People/' p. 74.
35 Dunlap's American Daily Advertiser, July 4, 1791. William White
had a large commission-house on the wharves about this time. Con
siderable praise is given the Insurance Society of 1796 for its good man
agement. Cf. "History of the Insurance Companies of North America. ' ' In
1817 the first convention of Free Negroes was held here, through the
efforts of Jones and Forten.
CHAPTER IV.
THE NKG-RO IN PHILADELPHIA, 1830-1896.
10. Fugitives and Foreigners, 1820-1840. Five social
developments made the decades from 1820 to 1840 critical
for the nation and for the Philadelphia Negroes ; first, the
impulse of the industrial revolution of the nineteenth cen
tury ; second, the reaction and recovery succeeding the War
of 1812 ; third, the rapid increase of foreign immigration ;
fourth, the increase of free Negroes and fugitive slaves,
especially in Philadelphia ; fifth, the rise of the Abolitionists
and the slavery controversy.
Philadelphia was the natural gateway between the North
and the South, and for a long time there passed through it
a stream of free Negroes and fugitive slaves toward the
North, and of recaptured Negroes and kidnapped colored
persons toward the South. By 1820 the northward stream
increased, occasioning bitterness on the part of the South,
and leading to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1820, and the
counter acts of Pennsylvania in 1826 and 1827.* During
this time new installments of Pennsylvania freedmen, and
especially their children, began to flock to Philadelphia.
At the same time the stream of foreign immigration to this
country began to swell, and by 1830 aggregated half a
million souls annually. The result of these movements
proved disastrous to the Philadelphia Negro ; the better
classes of them the Joneses, Aliens and For tens could not
escape into the mass of white population and leave the new
1 These laws were especially directed against kidnapping, and were
designed to protect free Negroes. See Appendix B. The law of 1826
was declared unconstitutional in 1842 by the U. S. Supreme Court. See
1 6 Peters, 500 ff.
(25)
26 Negro in Philadelphia, 1820-1896. [Chap. IV.
Negroes to fight out their battles with the foreigners. No
distinction was drawn between Negroes, least of all by the
new Southern families who now made Philadelphia their
home and were not unnaturally stirred to unreasoning
prejudice by the slavery agitation.
To this was added a fierce economic struggle, a renewal
of the fight of the eighteenth century against Negro work
men. The new industries attracted the Irish, Germans
and other immigrants ; Americans, too, were flocking to
the city, and soon to natural race antipathies was added a
determined effort to displace Negro labor an effort which
had the aroused prejudice of many of the better classes,
and the poor quality of the new black immigrants to give
it aid and comfort. To all this was soon added a problem
of crime and poverty. Numerous complaints of petty
thefts, house-breaking, and assaults on peaceable citizens
were traced to certain classes of Negroes. In vain did the
better class, led by men like Forten, protest by public
meetings their condemnation of such crime 2 ;the tide had
set against the Negro strongly, and the whole period from
1820 to 1840 became a time of retrogression for the mass
of the race, and of discountenance and repression from the
whites.
By 1830 the black population of the city and districts
had increased to 15,654, an increase of 27 per cent for the
decade 1820 to 1830, and of 48 per cent since 1810. Never
theless, the growth of the city had far outstripped this ; by
1830 the county had nearly 175,000 whites, among whom
was a rapidly increasing contingent of 5000 foreigners. So
intense was the race antipathy among the lower classes,
anJ so much countenance did it receive from the middle
and upper class, that there began, in 1829, a series of
riots directed chiefly against Negroes, which recurred fre
quently until about 1840, and did not wholly cease until
2 A meeting of Negroes held in 1822, at the A. M, . Church,
denounced crime and Negro criminals.
Sect. 10.] Fugitives and Foreigners, 18201840. 27
after the war. These riots were occasioned by various
incidents, but the underlying cause was the same : the simul
taneous influx of freedmen, fugitives and foreigners into
a large city, and the resulting prejudice, lawlessness, crime
and poverty. The agitation of the Abolitionists was the
match that lighted this fuel. In June and July, 1829, Mrs.
Fanny Wright Darusmont, a Scotch woman, gave a num
ber of addresses in Philadelphia, in which she boldly
advocated the emancipation of the Negroes and something
very like social equality of the races. This created great
excitement throughout the city, and late in the fall the first
riot against the Negroes broke out, occasioned by some
personal quarrel. 3
The legislature had proposed to stop the further influx
of Southern Negroes by making free Negroes carry passes
and excluding all others ; the arrival of fugitives from the
Southampton massacre was the occasion of this attempt,
and it was with difficulty that the friends of the Negro pre
vented its passage. 4 Quakers hastened to advise against
the sending of fugitives to the State, " as the effects of such
a measure would probably be disastrous to the peace and
comfort of the whole colored population of Pennsylvania. "
Edward Settle declared in 1832 : "The public mind here
is more aroused even among respectable persons than it
has been for several years," and he feared that the laws of
1826 and 1827 would be repealed, "thus leaving kidnap
pers free scope for their nefarious labors." 5
In 1833 a demonstration took place against the Aboli
tionists, and in 1834 serious riots occurred. One night in
August a crowd of several hundred boys and men, armed
8 Scharf- Westcott's "History of Philadelphia," I, 824. There was at
this time much lawlessness in the city which had no connection with the
presence of Negroes, and which led to rioting and disorder in general.
Cf. Price's " History of Consolidation."
* Southampton was the scene of the celebrated Nat Turner insurrection
of Negroes.
6 Letter to Nathan Mendelhall, of North Carolina.
28 Negro in Philadelphia, 1820-1896. [Chap. IV.
with clubs, inarched down Seventh street to the Pennsyl
vania Hospital. They were joined by others, and all pro
ceeded to some places of amusement where many Negroes
were congregated, on South street, near Eighth. Here the
rioting began, and four or five hundred people engaged in a
free street fight. Buildings were torn down and inmates
assaulted on Bedford and St. Mary streets and neighbor
ing alleys, until at last the policemen and constables suc
ceeded in quieting the tumult. The respite, however, was
but temporary. The very next night the mob assembled
again at Seventh and Bainbridge ; they first wrecked a
Negro church and a neighboring house, then attacked
some twenty Negro dwellings ; " great excesses are repre
sented as having been committed by the mob, and one or
two scenes of a most revolting character are said to have
taken place." That the riots occurred by prearranged
plan was shown by the signals lights in windows by
which the houses of the whites were distinguished and
those of the Negroes attacked and their inmates assaulted
and beaten. Several persons were severely injured in this
night's work and one Negro killed, before the mayor and
authorities dispersed the rioters.
The next night the mob again assembled in another
part of the city and tore down another Negro church. By
this time the Negroes began to gather for self-defence, and
abottt one hundred of them barricaded themselves in a
building on Seventh street, below Lombard, where a howl
ing mob of whites soon collected. The mayor induced
the Negroes to withdraw, and the riot ended. In this three
days' uprising thirty-one houses and two churches were
destroyed and Stephen James " an honest, industrious
colored man " killed. 6
The town meeting of September 15 condemned the riots
and voted to reimburse the sufferers, but also took occasion
to condemn the impeding of justice by Negroes when any
e Hazard's "Register," XIV, 126-28, 20x3-203.
Sect. 10.] Fugitives and Foreigners, 18201840, 29
of their number was arrested, and also the noise made in
Negro churches. The fires smouldered for about a year,
but burst forth again on the occasion of the murder of his
master by a Cuban slave, Juan. The lower classes were
aroused and a mob quickly assembled at the corners of
Sixth and Seventh and Lombard streets, and began the
work of destruction and assault, until finally it ended by
setting fire to a row of houses on Eighth street, and fight
ing off the firemen. The following night the mob met again
and attacked a house on St. Mary street, where an armed
body of Negroes had barricaded themselves. The mayor
and recorder finally arrived here and after severely lectur
ing the Negroes (!) induced them to depart. The whole
of the afternoon of that day black women and children
fled from the city. 7
Three years now passed without serious disturbance,
although the lawless elements which had gained such a
foothold were still troublesome. In 1838 two murders
were committed by Negroes one of whom was acknowl
edged to be a lunatic. At the burial of this one's victim,
rioting again began, the mob assembling on Passyunk
avenue and Fifth street and marching up Fifth. The
same scenes were re-enacted but finally the mob was
broken up. 8 Later the same year, on the dedication of
Pennsylvania Hall, which was designed to be a centre of
anti-slavery agitation, the mob, encouraged by the refusal
of the mayor to furnish adequate police protection, burned
the hall to the ground and the next night burned the
Shelter for Colored Orphans at Thirteenth and Callowhill
streets, and damaged Bethel Church, on Sixth street. 9
The last riot of this series took place in 1842 when a
mob devastated the district between Fifth and Eighth
''Ibid., XVI, 35-38.
8 Scharf-Westcott's " Philadelphia,*' I, 654-55.
9 Price, "History of Consolidation," etc., Ch. VII. The county
eventually paid $22,658.27, with interest and costs, for the destruction of
the hall.
30 Negro in Philadelphia, 1820-1896. [Chap. IV.
streets, near Lombard street, assaulted and beat Negroes
and looted their homes, burned down a Negro hall and a
church ; the following day the rioting extended to the sec
tion between South and Fitzwater streets and was finally
quelled by calling out the militia with artillery. 10
While these riots were taking place a successful effort
was made to deprive free Negroes of the right of suffrage
which they had enjoyed nearly fifty years. In 1836 a case
came before the court of a Negro who had been denied
the right of voting. The court decided in a peculiar de
cision that free Negroes were not u freemen " in the lan
guage of the constitution and, therefore that Negroes could
not vote. 11 The reform convention settled the matter by
inserting the word "white" in the qualifications for
election in the Constitution of 1837. l2 The Negroes pro
tested earnestly by meetings and appeals. " We appeal to
you n said they, " from the decision of the ( Reform Con
vention,' which has stripped us of a right peaceably
enjoyed during forty-seven years under the constitution of
this commonwealth. We honor Pennsylvania and her
noble institutions too much to part with our birthright, as
her free citizens, without a struggle. To all her citizens
the right of suffrage is valuable in proportion as she is free;
but surely there are none who can so ill afford to spare it
as ourselves. " Nevertheless the right was lost, for the
appeal fell on deaf ears. 13
A curious comment on human nature is this change of
public opinion in Philadelphia between 1790 and 1837.
No one thing explains it it arose from a combination of
circumstances. If, as in 1790, the new freedmen had been
given peace and quiet and abundant work to develop
sensible and aspiring leaders, the end would have been
10 Scharf-Westcott, I, 660-61.
" Case of Fogg vs. Hobbs, 6 Watts, 553~56o. See Chapter XII.
12 See Chapter XII and Appendix B.
13 Appeal of 40,000 citizens, etc., Philadelphia, 1838. Written chiefly
by the late Robert Purvis, son-in-law of James Forten.
Sect. 10.] Fugitives and Foreigners 18201840. 31
different; but a mass of poverty-stricken, ignorant fugitives
and ill-trained freedmen had rushed to the city, swarmed in
the vile slums which the rapidly growing city furnished,
and met in social and economic competition equally ignor
ant but more vigorous foreigners. These foreigners outbid
them at work, beat them on the streets, and were enabled
to do this by the prejudice which Negro crime and the
anti-slavery sentiment had aroused in the city.
Notwithstanding this the better class of Negroes never
gave up. Their school increased in attendance; their
churches and benevolent societies increased ; they held
public meetings of protest and sympathy. And twice, in
1831 and 1833, there assembled in the city a general con
vention of the free Negroes of the country, representing
five to eight States, which, among other things, sought to
interest philanthropists of the city in the establishment of
a Negro industrial school. 14 When the Legislature showed
a disposition in 1832 to curtail the liberties of Negroes,
the Negroes held a mass meeting and memorialized the
lawmaking body and endeavored to show that all Negroes
were not criminals and paupers ; they declared that while
the Negroes formed eight per cent of the population they
furnished but four per cent of the paupers ; that by actually
produced tax receipts they could show that Negroes held
at least $350,000 of taxable property in the city. More
over, they said," Notwithstanding the difficulty of getting
places for our sons to learn mechanical trades, owing to the
prejudices with which we have to contend, there are
between four and five hundred people of color who follow
mechanical employments." 15 In 1837 the census of the
Abolition Society claimed for the Negroes 1724 children in
school, $309,626 of unencumbered property, 16 churches
and 100 benevolent societies.
14 See Minutes of Conventions; the school was to be situated in New
Haven, but the New Haven authorities, by town meeting, protested so
vehemently that the project had to be given up. Cf. also Hazard, V, 143.
15 Hazard's " Register," IX, 361-62.
33 Negro in Philadelphia, 1820-1896. [Chap. IV.
ii. The Guild of the Caterers, 1840-1870. The outlook
for the Negro in Philadelphia about 1840 was not encour
aging. The last of the first series of riots took place in
1843, and has been mentioned. The authorities were
wakened to their duty by this last outbreak of barbarism,
and for several years the spirit of lawlessness, which now
extended far beyond the race question and seriously threat
ened the good name of the city, was kept within control.
However, in 1849, a mob set upon a mulatto who had a
white wife, at the corner of Sixth street and St. Mary's,
and there ensued a pitched battle for a night and a day ;
firemen fought with firemen ; the blacks, goaded to desper
ation, fought furiously ; houses were burned and firearms
used, with the result that three white men and one Negro
were killed and twenty-five wounded persons taken to the
hospital. The militia was twice called before the disturb
ance was quelled. These riots and the tide of prejudice
and economic proscription drove so many Negroes from
the city that the black population actually showed a
decrease in the decade 1840-50. Worse than this, the good
name of the Negroes in the city had been lost through the
increased crime and the undeniably frightful condition
of the Negro slums. The foreign element gained all
the new employments which the growing industries of
the State opened, and competed for the trades and com
mon vocations. The outlook was certainly dark.
It was at this time that there arose to prominence and
power as remarkable a trade guild as ever ruled in a medi
aeval city. It took complete leadership of the bewildered
group of Negroes, and led them steadily on to a degree of
affluence, culture and respect such as has probably never
been surpassed in the history of the Negro in America.
This was the guild of the caterers, and its masters include
names which have been household words in the city for fifty
years : Bogle, Augustin, Prosser, Dorsey, Jones and Minton.
To realize just the character of this new economic
Sect, ii.] The Guild of the Caterers, 1840-1870. 33
development we must not forget the economic history of
the slaves. At first they were wholly house servants or
field hands. As city life in the colony became more
important, some of the slaves acquired trades, and thus
there arose a class of Negro artisans. So long as the
pecuniary interests of a slaveholding class stood back of
these artisans the protests of white mechanics had little
effect ; indeed it is probable that between 1790 and 1820 a
very large portion, and perhaps most, of the artisans of Phil
adelphia were Negroes. Thereafter, however, the sharp
competition of the foreigners and the demand for new sorts
of skilled labor of which the Negro was ignorant, and was
not allowed to learn, pushed the black artisans more and
more to the wall. In 1837 only about 350 men out of a
city population of 10,500 Negroes, pursued trades, or about
one in every twenty adults.
The question, therefore, of obtaining a decent livelihood
was a pressing one for the better class of Negroes. The
masses of the race continued to depend upon domestic
service, where they still had a practical monopoly, and
upon common labor, where they had some competition
from the Irish. To the more pushing and energetic
Negroes only two courses were open : to enter into com
mercial life in some small way, or to develop certain lines
of home service into a more independent and lucrative
employment. In this latter way was the most striking
advance made ; the whole catering business, arising from
an evolution shrewdly, persistently and tastefully directed,
transformed the Negro cook and waiter into the public
caterer and restaurateur, and raised a crowd of underpaid
menials to become a set of self-reliant, original business
men, who amassed fortunes for themselves and won general
respect for their people.
The first prominent Negro caterer was Robert Bogle,
who, early in the century, conducted an establishment on
Eighth street, near Sansoin. In his day he was one of the
34 Negro in Philadelphia, 18201896. [Chap. IV.
best known characters of Philadelphia, and virtually cre
ated the business of catering in the city. 16 As the butler
or waiter in a private family arranged the meals and
attended the family on ordinary occasions, so the public
waiter came to serve different families in the same capacity
at larger and more elaborate functions; he was the butler
of the smart set, and his taste of hand and eye and palate
set the fashion of the day. This functionary filled a unique
place in a time when social circles were very exclusive,
and the millionaire and the French cook had not yet
arrived. Bogle's place was eventually taken by Peter
Augustin, a West Indian immigrant, who started a business
in 1818 which is still carried on. It was the Augustin
establishment that made Philadelphia catering famous all
over the country. The best families of the city, and the
most distinguished foreign guests, were served by this
caterer. Other Negroes soon began to crowd into the field
thus opened. The Prossers, father and son, were prominent
among these, perfecting restaurant catering and making
many famous dishes. Finally came the triumvirate Jones,
Dorsey and Minton, who ruled the fashionable world from
1845-1875. Of these Dorsey was the most unique char
acter ; with little education but great refinement of man
ner, he became a man of real weight in the community,
and associated with many eminent men. " He had the
sway of an imperial dictator. When a Democrat asked
his menial service he refused, because ( he could not wait
on a party of persons who were disloyal to the government,
and Lincoln' pointing to the picture in his reception
rooms 'was the government.'" 17 Jones was Virginia
I6 Biddle's "Ode to Bogle, " is a well-known squib; Bogle himself is
credited with considerable wit. " You are of the people who walk in
darkness," said a prominent clergyman to him once in a dimly lighted
hall. <c But," replied Bogle, bowing to the distinguished gentleman, " I
have seen a great light. ' '
17 See in Philadelphia Times, October 17, 1896, the following notes by
' ' Megargee :' ' Dorsey was one of the triumvirate of colored caterers the
Sect, ii.] The Guild of the Caterers, 1840-1870. 35
born, and a man of great care and faithfulness. He catered
to families in Philadelphia, New Jersey and New York. 18
Minton, the younger of the three, long had a restaurant at
Fourth and Chestnut, and became, as the others did, mod
erately wealthy. 19
Such men wielded great personal influence, aided the
Abolition cause to no little degree, and made Philadelphia
noted for its cultivated and well-to-do Negro citizens.
Their conspicuous success opened opportunities for Negroes
in other lines. It was at this time that Stephen Smith
amassed a very large fortune as a lumber merchant, with
which he afterward handsomely endowed a home for aged
other two being Henry Jones and Henry Minton who some years ago
might have been said to rule the social world of Philadelphia through its
stomach. Time was when lobster salad, chicken croquettes, deviled
crabs and terrapin composed the edible display at every big Philadelphia
gathering, and none of those dishes were thought to be perfectly pre
pared unless they came from the hands of one of the three men
named. Without making any invidious comparisons between those who
were such masters of the gastronomic art, it can fairly be said that out
side of his kitchen, Thomas J. Dorsey outranked the others. Although
without schooling, he possessed a naturally refined instinct that led him
to surround himself with both men and things of an elevating character.
It was his proudest boast that at his table, in his Locust street residence,
there had sat Charles Sumner, William Lloyd Garrison, John W. Forney,
William D. Kelley and Fred Douglass. . . . Yet Thomas Dorsey had
been a slave; had been held in bondage by a Maryland planter. Nor did
he escape from his fetters until he had reached a man's estate. He fled
to this city, but was apprehended and returned to his master. During
his brief stay in Philadelphia, however, he made friends, and these raised
a fund of sufficient proportion to purchase his freedom. As a caterer he
quickly achieved both fame and fortune. His experience of the horrors
of slavery had instilled him with an undying reverence for those cham
pions of his down-trodden race, the old-time Abolitionists. He took a
prominent part in all efforts to elevate his people, and in that way he
came in close contact with Sumner, Garrison, Forney and others.
18 Henry Jones was in the catering business thirty years, and died
September 24, 1875, leaving a considerable estate.
19 Henry Minton came from Nansemond County, Virginia, at the age
of nineteen, arriving in Philadelphia in 1830. He was first apprenticed
to a shoemaker, then went into a hotel as waiter. Finally he opened
dining rooms at Fourth and Chestnut. He died March 20, 1883.
36 Negro in Philadelphia, 1820-1896. [Chap. IV.
and infirm Negroes. Whipper, Vidal and Purnell were
associated with Smith at different times. Still and Bowers
were coal merchants and Adger was in the furniture
business. There were also some artists of ability : Bowser,
who painted a portrait of Lincoln, and Douglass and Burr ;
Johnson, the leader of a famous colored band and a com
poser. 20
During this time of effort, advance and assimilation the
Negro population increased but slowly, for the economic
struggle was too earnest for young and indiscriminate mar
riages, and immigrants had been frightened away by the
riots. In 1840 there were 19,833 Negroes in the county,
and ten years later, as has been noted, there were only
19,761. For the next decade there was a moderate increase
to 22,185, when the war brought a slight decrease, leaving
the Negro population 22,147 in 1870. Meantime the
white population had increased by leaps and bounds :
POPULATION OF PHILADELPHIA COUNTY, 1840-1870.
Date.
Whites.
Negroes.
184.0
238,204
19,8^3
1850
l8Q,OOI
]Q,76l
j86o ...
S43, ^44
22,185
1870
651,854
22,147
In 1810 the Negroes had formed nearly one-tenth of the
total population of the city, but in 1870 they formed but
little over one thirty-third, the lowest proportion ever
reached in the history of Philadelphia.
The general social condition showed some signs of im
provement from 1840 on. In 1847 there were 1940 Negro
children in school ; the Negroes held, it was said, about
$400,000 in real estate and had 19 churches and 106
benevolent societies. The mass of the race were still
domestic servants about 4000 of the 11,000 in the city
20 This band was in great demand at social functions, and its leader
received a trumpet from Queen Victoria.
Sect, ii.] The Guild of the Caterers, 1840-1870. 37
proper being thus employed, a figure which probably
meant a considerable majority of the adults. The
remainder were chiefly employed as laborers, artisans,
coachmen, expressmen and barbers.
The habitat of the Negro population changed somewhat
in this period. About 1790 one-fourth of the Negroes
lived between Vine and Market and east of Ninth ; one-
half between Market and South, mostly in the alleys
bounded by Lombard, Fifth, Eighth and South; one-
eighth lived below South, and one-eighth in the Northern
Liberties. Many of these, of course, lived in white
families. In 1837 a quarter of the Negroes were in white
families, a little less than one-half were in the city limits
centring at Sixth and Lombard or thereabouts ; a tenth
lived in Moyamensing, a twentieth in the Northern Lib
erties, and the remaining part in Kensington and
Spring Garden districts. The riots concentrated this
population somewhat, and in 1847, ^ ^ e 20,000 Negroes
in the county, only 1300 lived north of Vine and east of
Sixth. The rest were in the city proper, in Moyamensing
and in Southwark. Moyamensing was the worst slum
district: between South and Fitzwater and Fifth and
Eighth there were crowded 302 families in narrow, filthy
alleys. Here was concentrated the worst sort of depravity,
poverty, crime and disease. The present slums at Seventh
and Lombard are bad and dangerous, but they are de
cent compared with those of a half century ago. The
Negroes furnished one-third of all the commitments for
crime in 1837, and one-half in 1847.
Beginning with 1850 the improvement of the Negro
was more rapid. The value of real estate held was esti
mated to have doubled between 1847 and 1856. The
proportion of men in the trades remained stationary ;
there were 3321 children in school. Toward the time of
the outbreak of war the feeling toward the Negro in certain
classes softened somewhat, and his staunch friends were
38 Negro in Philadelphia, 1820-1896. [Chap. IV.
enabled to open many benevolent institutions ; in many
ways a disposition to help them was manifested : the
newspapers treated them with more respect, and they were
not subject so frequently to personal insult on the street.
They were still kept off the street cars in spite of ener
getic protest. Indeed, not until 1867 was a law passed
prohibiting this discrimination. Judicial decisions upheld
the railways for a long time, and newspapers and public
opinion supported them. When by Judge Allison's decis
ion the attitude of the courts was changed, and damages
granted an evicted Negro, the railway companies often
side-tracked and left cars which colored passengers had
entered. Separate cars were run for them on some lines,
and in 1865 a public ballot on the cars was taken to decide
the admission of Negroes. Naturally the conductors
returned a large majority against any change. Finally,
after public meetings, pamphlets and repeated agitation,
the prospective enfranchisement of the freedmen gained
what decency and common sense had long refused. 21
Steps toward raising Negro troops in the city were
taken in 1863, as soon as the efficiency of the Negro soldier
had been proven. Several hundred prominent citizens
petitioned the Secretary of War and were given permis
sion to raise Negro regiments. The troops were to receive
no bounties, but were to have $10 a month and rations.
They were to rendezvous at Camp William Penn, Chelten
Hills. A mass meeting was soon held attended by the
prominent caterers, teachers and merchants, together with
white citizens, at which Frederick Douglass, W. D. Kelley
and Anna Dickinson spoke. Over $30,000 was raised in
the city by subscription, and the first squad of soldiers
went into camp June 26, 1863. By December, three
21 See Spiers' "Street Railway System of Philadelphia/' pp. 23-27;
also unpublished MS. of Mr. Bernheimer, on file among the senior theses
in the Wharton School of Finance and Economy, University of Penn
sylvania.
Sect I2.J Influx of the Freedmen^ 1870-1896+ 39
regiments were full, and by the next February, five. The
first three regiments, known as the Third, Sixth and Eighth
United States Regiments of Colored Troops, went promptly
to the front, the Third being before Fort Wagner when it
fell. The other regiments followed as called, leaving still
other Negroes anxious to enlist 22
After the war and emancipation great hopes were enter
tained by the Negroes for rapid advancement, and nowhere
did they seem better founded than in Philadelphia. The
generation then in its prime had lived down a most intense
and bitter race feud and had gained the respect of the
better class of whites. They started with renewed zeal,
therefore, to hasten their social development.
12. The Influx of the Freedmen, 1870-1896. The
period opened stormily, on account of the political rights
newly conferred on black voters. Philadelphia city politics
have ever had a shady side, but when it seemed manifest
that one political party, by the aid of Negro votes, was
soon to oust the time-honored incumbents, all the lawless
elements which bad city government for a half-century had
nurtured naturally fought for the old regime. They found
this the easier since the city toughs were largely Irish and
hereditary enemies of the blacks. In the spring elections
of 1871 there was so much disorder, and such poor police
protection, that the United States marines were called on
to preserve order. 23
In the fall elections street disorders resulted in the cold
blooded assassination of several Negroes, among whom was
an estimable young teacher, Octavius V. Catto. The mur
der of Catto came at a critical moment ; to the Negroes it
seemed a revival of the old slavery-time riots in the day
when they were first tasting freedom ; to the better classes
of Philadelphia it revealed a serious state of barbarism and
lawlessness in the second city of the land ; to the politicians
22 Pamphlet on " Enlistment of Negro Troops," Philadelphia Library,
Cf. Scharf-Westcott, I, 837.
40 Negro in Philadelphia, 1820-1896. [Chap. IV.
it furnished a text and example which was strikingly
effective and which they did not hesitate to use. The
result of all this was an outburst of indignation and sor
row, which was remarkable, and which showed a deter
mined stand for law and order. The outward expression
of this was a great mass meeting, attended by some of the
best citizens, and a funeral for Catto which was perhaps
the most imposing ever given to an American Negro. 24
24 The following account of an eye-witness, Mr. W. C. Bolivar, is from
the Philadelphia Tribune, a Negro paper : " In the spring election
preceding the murder of Octavius V. Catto, there was a good deal of
rioting. It was at this election that the United States Marines were
brought into play under the command of Col. James Forney. Their very
presence had the salutary effect of preserving order. The handwriting
of political disaster to the Democratic party was plainly noticed This
galled 'the unterrified, ' and much of the rancor was owing to the fact
that the Negro vote would guarantee Republican supremacy beyond a
doubt. Even then Catto had a narrow escape through a bullet shot at
Michael Maher, an ardent Republican, whose place of business was at
Eighth and Lombard streets. This assault was instigated by Dr. Gilbert,
whose paid or coerced hirelings did his bidding. The Mayor, D. M. Fox,
was a mild, easygoing Democrat, who seemed a puppet in the hands of
astute conscienceless men. The night prior to the day in question, Octo
ber 10, 1871, a colored man named Gordon was shot down in cold blood
on Eighth street. The spirit of mobocracy filled the air, and the object
of its spleen seemed to have been the colored men. A cigar store kept
by Morris Brown, Jr., was the resort of the Pythian and Bauneker mem
bers, and it was at this place on the night prior to the murder that Catto
appeared among his old friends for the last time. When the hour arrived
for home going, Catto went the near and dangerous way to his residence,
814 South street, and said as he left, ' I would not stultify my manhood
by going to my home in a roundabout way.' Wheu he reached his
residence he found one of its dwellers had his hat taken from him at a
point around the corner. He went out and into one of the worst places
in the Fourth Ward and secured it
"Intimidation and assault began with the opening of the polls. The
first victim was Levi Bolden, a playfellow, as a boy, with the chronicler
of these notes. Whenever they could conveniently catch a colored man
they forthwith proceeded to assail him. Later in the day a crowd forced
itself into Emeline street and battered in the brains of Isaac Chase, going
into his home, wreaking their spite on this defenceless man, in the pres
ence of his family. The police force was Democratic, and not only stood
idly by, but gave practical support. They took pains to keep that part
of the city not in the bailiwick of the rioters from knowing anything of
Sect. 12.] Influx of the Freedmen, 1870-1896. 41
This incident, and the general expression of opinion
after the war, showed a growing liberal spirit toward the
what was transpiring. Catto voted and went to school, but dismissed it
after realizing the danger of keeping it open during the usual hours.
Somewhere near 3 o'clock as he neared his dwelling, two or three men
were seen to approach him from the rear, and one of them, supposed to
have been either Frank Kelly or Reddy Dever, pulled out a pistol and
pointed it at Catto. The aim of the man was sure, and Catto barely got
around a street car before he fell. This occurred directly in front of a
police station, into which he was carried. The news spread in every
direction. The wildest excitement prevailed, and not only colored men,
but those with the spirit of fair play, realized the gravity of the situation,
with a divided sentiment as to whether they ought to make an assault on
the Fourth Ward or take steps to preserve the peace. The latter pre
vailed, and the scenes of carnage, but a few hours back, when turbulence
was supreme, settled down to an opposite state of almost painful calm
ness. The rioting during that day was in parts of the Fifth, Seventh and
Fourth wards, whose boundary lines met. It must not be supposed that
the colored people were passive when attacked, because the records show
* an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tootn,' in every instance. No pen
is graphic enough to detail the horrors of that day. Bach home was in
sorrow, and strong men wept like children, when they realized how much
had been lost in the untimely death of the gifted Catto.
" Men who had sat quietly unmindful of things not directly concerning
themselves, were aroused to the gravity of the situation, wrought by the
spirit of a mob, came out of their seclusion and took a stand for law and
order. It was a righteous public sentiment that brought brute force to
bay. The journals not only here, but the country over, with one voice
condemned the lawless acts of October 10, 1871. Sympathetic public
gatherings were held in many cities, with the keynote of condemnation
as the only true one. Here in Philadelphia a meeting of citizens was
held, from which grew the greater, held in National Hall, on Market
street, below Thirteenth. The importance of this gathering is shown by
a list its promoters. Samuel Perkins, Esq., called it to order, and the
eminent Hon. Henry C. Carey presided. Among some of those in
the list of vice-presidents were Hon. William M. Meredith, Gustavus
S. Benson, Alex. Biddle, Joseph Harrison, George H. Stuart, J. Effing-
ham Fell, George H. Boker, Morton McMichael, James L. Claghorn, F.
C. and Benjamin H. Brewster, Thomas H. Powers, Hamilton Disston,
William B. Mann, John W. Forney, John Price Wetherill, R. I/. Ashhurst,
William H. Kemble, William S. Stokley, Judge Mitchell, Generals
Collis and Sickel, Congressmen Kelley, Harmer, Myers, Creely, O'Neill,
Samuel H. Bell and hundreds more. These names represented the
wealth, brains and moral excellence of this community. John Goforth,
the eminent lawyer, read the resolutions, which were seconded in
42 Negro in Philadelphia, 1820-1896. [Chap. IV.
Negro in Philadelphia. There was a disposition to grant
him, within limits, a man's chance to make his way in the
world ; he had apparently vindicated his right to this in
war, and his ability for it in peace. Slowly, but surely,
therefore, the community was disposed to throw off the
trammels, brush away petty hindrances and to soften the
harshness of race prejudice, at least enough to furnish the
new citizen the legal safeguards of a citizen and the per
sonal privileges of a man. By degrees the restrictions on
personal liberty were relaxed ; the street cars, which for
speeches by Hon. William B. Mann, Robert Purvis, Isaiah C. Weirs,
Rev. J. Walker Jackson, Gen. C. H. T. Collis and Hon. Alex. K.
McClure. These all breathed the same spirit, the condemnation of mob
law and a demand for equal and exact justice to all. The speech of Col.
McClure stands out boldly among the greatest forensic efforts ever known
to our city. His central thought was ' the unwritten law/ which made
an impression beyond my power to convey. In the meanwhile, smaller
meetings were held in all parts of the city to record their earnest protest
against the brute force of the day before. That was the end of disorder
in a large scale here. On the sixteenth of October the funeral occurred.
The body lay in state at the armory of the First Regiment, Broad and
Race streets, and was guarded by the military. Not since the funeral
cortege of President Lincoln had there been one as large or as imposing
in Philadelphia. Outside of the Third Brigade, N. G. P., detached com
mands from the First Division, and the military from New Jersey, there
were civic organizations by the hundreds from Philadelphia, to say
nothing of various bodies from Washington, Baltimore, Wilmington,
New York and adjacent places. All the city offices were closed, beside
many schools. City Councils attended in a body, the State Legislature
was present, all the city employes marched in line, and personal friends
came from far and near to testify their practical sympathy. The military
was under the command of General Louis Wagner, and the civic bodies
marshaled by Robert M. Adger. The pall-bearers were Lieutenant Colo
nel Ira D. Cliff, Majors John W. Simpson and James H. Grocker, Captains
J. F. Needhatn and R. J. Burr, Lieutenants J. W. Diton, W. W. Morris
and Dr. B. C. Howard, Major and Surgeon of the Twelfth Regiment.
This is but a mere glance backward at the trying days of October, 1871,
and is written to refresh the minds of men and women of that day, as
well as to chronicle a bit of sad history that this generation may be
informed. And so closed the career of a man of splendid equipment,
rare force of character, whose life was so interwoven with all that was
good about us, as to make it stand out in bold relief, as a pattern for
those who have followed after. "
Sect. 12.] Influx of the Freedmen, 1870-1896. 43
many years had sought by every species of proscription to
get rid of colored passengers or carry them on the plat
form, were finally compelled by law to cancel such rules ;
the railways and theatres rather tardily followed, and
finally even the schools were thrown open to all. 25 A
deep-rooted and determined prejudice still remained, but it
showed signs of yielding.
It cannot be denied that the main results of the develop
ment of the Philadelphia Negro since the war have on the
whole disappointed his well-wishers. They do not pretend
that he has not made great advance in certain lines, or
even that in general he is not better off to-day than for
merly. They do not even profess to know just what his
condition to-day is, and yet there is a widespread feeling
that more might reasonably have been expected in the line
of social and moral development than apparently has been
accomplished. Not only do they feel that there is a lack
of positive results, but the relative advance compared with
the period just before the war is slow, if not an actual
retrogression ; an abnormal and growing amount of crime
and poverty can justly be charged to the Negro ; he is not
a large taxpayer, holds no conspicuous place in the busi
ness world or the world of letters, and even as a working
man seems to be losing ground. For these reasons those
who, for one purpose and another, are anxiously watch
ing the development of the American Negro desire to
know first how far these general impressions are true, what
the real condition of the Negro is and what movements
would best be undertaken to improve the present situa
tion. And this local problem is after all but a small
manifestation of the larger and similar Negro problems
throughout the land.
For such ends the investigation, the results of which are
here presented, was undertaken. This is not the first time
such a study has been attempted. In 1837, 1847 and 1856
25 Cf. Appendix B.
44 Negro in Philadelphia, 1820-1896. [Chap. IV.
studies were made by the Abolition Society and the Friends
and much valuable data procured. 26 The United States
censuses have also added to our general knowledge, and
newspapers have often interested themselves in the matter.
Unfortunately, however, the Friends' investigations are not
altogether free from a suspicion of bias in favor of the
Negro, the census reports are very general and newspaper
articles necessarily hurried and inaccurate. This study
seeks to cull judiciously from all these sources and others,
and to add to them specially collected data for the years
1896 and 1897.
Before, however, we enter upon the consideration of this
matter, we must bring to mind four characteristics of the
period we are considering : (i) The growth of Philadelphia ;
(2) the increase of the foreign population in the city;
(3) the development of the large industry and increase of
wealth, and (4) the coming in of the Southern freedmen's
sons and daughters. Even Philadelphians hardly realize
that the population of their staid old city has nearly
doubled since the war, and that consequently it is not the
same place, has not the same spirit, as formerly ; new men,
new ideas, new ways of thinking and acting have gained
some entrance ; life is larger, competition fiercer, and con
ditions of economic and social survival harder than formerly.
Again, while there were perhaps 125,000 foreign born
persons in the city in 1860, there are 260,000 now, not to
26 See Appendix C. The inquiry of 1838 was by the Philadelphia
Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, and the report was in
two parts, one a register of trades and one a general report of forty
pages. The Society of Friends, or the Abolition Society, undertook the
inquiry of 1849, an ^ published a pamphlet of forty-four pages. There
was also the same year a report on the health of colored convicts. A
pamphlet by Edward Needles was also published in 1849, comparing the
Negroes in 1837 and 1848. Benjamin C. Bacon, at the instance of the
Abolition Society, made the inquiry in 1856, which was published that
year. In 1859, a second edition was issued with criminal statistics. All
these pamphlets may be consulted at the Library Company of Philadel
phia, or the Ridgway branch.
Sect. I2.J Influx of the Freedmen, 1870-1896. 45
mention the children of the former born here. These
foreigners have come in to divide with native Americans
the industrial opportunities of the city, and have thereby
intensified competition. Thirdly, new methods of con
ducting business and industry are now rife : the little shop,
the small trader, the house industry have given way to the
department store, the organized company and the factory.
Manufacturing of all kinds has increased by leaps and
bounds in the city, and to-day employs three times as many
men as in 1860, paying three hundred millions annually
in wages ; hacks and expressmen have turned into vast
inter-urban businesses: restaurants have become palatial
hotels the whole face of business is being gradually
transformed. Finally, into this rapid development have
precipitated themselves during the last twenty years fifteen
thousand immigrants, mostly from Maryland, Virginia
and Carolina untrained and poorly educated countrymen,
rushing from the hovels of the country or the cottages of
country towns, suddenly into the new, strange life of a
great city to mingle with 25,000 of their race already there.
What has been the result ?
[NoTE. There was a small riot in 1843 during the time
of Mayor Swift. In 1832 began a series of literary
societies the Library Company, the Banneker Society, etc. ,
which did much good for many years. The first Negro
newspaper of the city, the "Demosthenian Shield," appeared
in 1840. Among men not already mentioned in this period
should be noted the Rev. C. W. Gardner, Dr. J. Bias, the
dentist, James McCrummell, and Sarah M. Douglass. All
these were prominent Negroes of the day and had much
influence. The artist, Robert Douglass, is the painter of a
portrait of Fannie Kemble, which its Philadelphia owner
to-day prefers to attribute to Thomas Dudley.]
CHAPTER V.
THE SIZE, AGE AND SEX OF THE NEGRO POPULATION.
13. The City for a Century. The population of the
county 1 of Philadelphia increased about twenty-fold from
1790 to 1890 ; starting with 50,000 whites and 2500
Negroes at the first census, it had at the time of the
eleventh census, a million whites and 40,000 Negroes. Com
paring the rate of increase of these two elements of the
population we have :
OP INCREASE OF NEGROES AND WHITES.
Decade from
Negroes.
Whites.
Decade from
Negroes.
Whites.
1790-1800
1800-1810 . .
1810-1820 . .
1820-1830 . .
1830-1840 , .
176.42^
52.93
13.00
31.39
27.07
42.92^
35-55
22.8o
39*94
37-54
1840-1850* . .
1850-1860 . .
1860-1870* . .
1870 1880 . .
1880-1890
^%
12.26
17
43-13
24.20
63-30$
39.67
19.96
25.08
23.42
* Decrease for Negroes.
The first two decades were years of rapid increase for the
Negroes, their number rising from 2489 in 1790 to 10,552 in
1810. This was due to the incoming of the new freedmen
and of servants with masters, all to some extent attracted
by the social and industrial opportunities of the city.
The white population during this period also increased
largely, though not so rapidly as the Negroes, rising from
1 The unit for study throughout this essay has been made the county
of Philadelphia, and not the city, except where the city is especially
mentioned. Since 1854, the city and county have been coterminous.
Kven before that the population of the "districts " was for our purposes
an urban population, and a part of the group life of Philadelphia.
(46)
Sect 13.]
The City for a Century.
47
51,902 in 1790 to 100,688 in 1810. During the next
decade the war had its influence on both races although
it naturally had its greatest effect on the lower which
increased only 13 per cent against an increase of 28.6 per
cent among the Negroes of the country at large. This
brought the Negro population of the county to 11,891,
while the white population stood at 123,746. During the
next two decades, 1820 to 1840, the Negro population rose
to 19,833, by natural increase and immigration, while the
white population, feeling the first effects of foreign immi
gration, increased to 238,204. For the next thirty years
the continued foreign arrivals, added to natural growth,
caused the white population to increase nearly three-fold,
while the same cause combined with others allowed an
increase of little more than 2000 persons among the Negroes,
bringing the black population up to 22,147. In the last
two decades the rush to cities on the part of both white and
black has increased the former to 1,006,590 souls and the
latter to 39,371. The following table gives the exact
figures for each decade :
POPULATION OF PHILADELPHIA, 1790-1890.
Date.
Whites.
Negroes.
Total.
City.
County.
City.
County.
City.
County.
179^- - -
1800 . .
5I,90 2
74,129
100,688
123,746
173, J 73
Y,582
2,489
6,880
10,552
11,891
15,624
17,500
19,833
20,240
19,761
28,552
41,220
53,722
63,802
80,462
54,391
81,009
111,240
135,637
188,797
1810 ....
1820 ....
1830 . .
56,220
1818
1840 ....
T&17
83,158
238,204
10,507
11,000?
10,736
93,^65
258,037
1850 ....
1856 .
110,640
389,001
121,376
408,762
1860. ...
1870 ....
1880. ...
1890 ....
543,344
651,854
815,362
1,006,590
22,185
22,147
31,699
39.371
565,529
674,022*
847,170*
1,046,964*
*These totals include Chinese, Indians, etc.
4 8
Sise, Age and Sex.
[Chap. V.
1
3
n
ft
-. Wf^OTOf 1 *?
I
|
I
f
i
40,000
I
i
i
so
i
1
35,000
30,000
25,000
20,000
15,000
10,000
5000
h
i
1
I
1
in
1 i
/
i
y
t
+ * +
* *
/
j
X
/
/
X
^"
/
/
/
on
S
JO
in
5
S
^
-
'
*
s
i i i ! f s i i
INCREASE OF THE NEGRO POPULATION IN PHILA
DELPHIA FOR A CENTURY.
[NOTE. Each horizontal line represents an increment of
2500 persons in population ; the upright lines represent the
decades. The broken diagonal shows the course of Negro
population, and the arrows above recall historic events pre
viously referred to as influencing the increase of the
Negroes. At the base of the upright lines is a figure
giving the percentage which the Negro population formed
of the total population.]
The City for a Century.
49
Sect 13.]
The Negro has never formed a very large percent of the
population of the city, as this diagram shows :
10 PerCt
PROPORTION OF NEGROES IN TOTAL POPULATION OP PHILADELPHIA.
A glance at these tables shows how much more sensitive
the lower classes of a population are to great social changes
than the rest of the group; prosperity brings abnormal
increase, adversity, abnormal decrease in mere numbers, not
to speak of other less easily measurable changes. Doubt
less if we could divide the white population into social
strata, we would find some classes whose characteristics
corresponded in many respects to those of the Negro. Or
to view the matter from the opposite standpoint we have
here an opportunity of tracing the history and condition
of a social class which peculiar circumstances have kept
segregated and apart from the mass.
If we glance beyond Philadelphia and compare con
ditions as to increase of Negro population with the situa
tion in the country at large we can make two interesting com
parisons : the rate of increase in a large city compared with
Size, Age and Sex.
[Chap. V.
50
that in the country at large ; and the changes in the proper-
tion of Negro inhabitants in the city and the United States.
INCREASE o* NEGROES IN THE UNITED STATES AND IN THE CITY
OF PHILADELPHIA COMPARED.
Decade.
Increase in
Census Year.
Percentage of Negroes
in Total Population in
Phila
delphia,
United
States.
Phila
delphia.
United
States.
1790-1800 .
3800-1810 .
l8lO-I<S20 .
1820-1830 .
1830-1840 .
1840-1850 .
1850-1860 .
1860-1870 .
1870-1880 .
1880-1890 .
/*
176.42
52-93
13.00
3L39
27.07
.36*
12.26
.17*
43.13
24.20
%
3 2 -33
37.50
28.59
3L44
23.40
26.63
22.07
9.86
34.85
13.51
I7oo
%
4-57
8.49
9-45
8.76
8.27
7-39
4.83
3-92
328
3-74
3-76
%
19.27
J8.88
19.03
lS.39
18.10
16.84
15.69
14.13
12.66
13.12
Ir -93
I800
1810 . . .
1820
1830
1840
1850 . . .
1860 . . .
1870 . , .
1880 .....
1890
* Decrease.
A glance at the proportion of Negroes in Philadelphia
and in the United States shows how largely the Negro
problems are still problems of the country. (See diagram
of the proportion of Negroes in the total population of
Philadelphia and of the United States on opposite page.)
This is even more striking if we remember that Phila
delphia ranks high in the absolute and relative number of
its Negro inhabitants. For the ten largest cities in the
United States we have :
TEN LARGEST CITIES IN THE UNITED STATES ARRANGED ACCORDING
TO NEGRO POPULATION.
Cities.
Negro
Population.
Cities.
Proportion
of Negroes to
Total
Population.
I, Baltimore , . . .
2. Philadelphia . .
3. St. Louis ....
4. New York . . .
5 Chicago .....
67,104
39'37*
26,865
23,601
14,271
I. Baltimore . .
2. St. Louis . .
3. Philadelphia
4. Cincinnati .
5. Boston . .
15-49^
5-94
3.76
3-72
.76
6. Cincinnati . . .
tj Brooklvn
11,655
10 287
6. New York .
7. Chicago . .
55
.20
8 Boston ....
8,125
8. Brooklyn . .
.27
9. Cleveland ....
TO. San Francisco . .
2,989
1,847
9. Cleveland - .
10. San Francisco
.14
.61
Sect. 13.]
The City for a Century.
52
Size, Age and Sex.
[Chap. V.
I
P<
3
o
8
00
<1
<
IN
00
p
^ o
$ '-5
X. CO
a s
3
00
fO
ex
i
Cw *^
I
O 00
O. - 1
3
o
5
2
s.
1
If
3
o
Sect 13.]
The City for a Century.
53
Of all the large cities in the United States, only three
have a larger absolute Negro population than Philadelphia :
Washington, New Orleans and Baltimore. We seldom
realize that none of the great Southern cities, except the
three mentioned, have a colored population approaching
that of Philadelphia :
COLORED* POPULATION OF LARGE SOUTHERN CITIES.
Cities.
Colored
Inhabitants.
Cities.
Colored
Inhabitants.
Washington, D. C. .
New Orleans, La. . .
Philadelphia, Pa. . .
Richmond Va
75,697
64,663
40,374*
^2,*S4.
Nashville, Tenn. . .
Memphis, Tenn. . .
Louisville, Ky. . . .
Atlanta, Ga
29,395
28,729
28,672
28,117
Charleston, S. C. . .
31,036
Savannah, Ga. . . .
22,978
* Includes Chinese, Japanese and civilized Indians, an insignificant number in
these cases.
Taken by itself, the Negro population of Philadelphia is
no insignificant group of men, as the foregoing diagrams
show. (See page 52.)
In other words, we are studying a group of people the
size of the capital of Pennsylvania in 1890, and as large as
Philadelphia itself in 1800.
Scanning this population more carefully, the first thing
that strikes one is the unusual excess of females. This
fact, which is true of all Negro urban populations, has not
often been noticed, and has not been given its true weight
as a social phenomenon. 2 If we take the ten cities having
the greatest Negro populations, we have this table : 3
3 My attention was first called to this fact by Professor Kelly Miller,
of Howard University; cf. " Publications of American Negro Academy,"
No. i. There is probably, in taking censuses, a larger percentage of
omissions among males than among females; such omissions would,
however, go but a small way toward explaining this excess of females.
3 In a good many of the Eleventh Census tables, " Chinese, Japanese
and civilized Indians," were very unwisely included in the total of the
Colored, making an error to be allowed for when one studies the Negro.
In most cases the discrepancy can be ignored. In this case this fact but
serves to decrease the excess of females, as these other groups have an
excess of males. The city of Philadelphia has 1003 Chinese, Japanese
54
Size, Age and Sex.
[Chap. V.
COLORED* POPULATION OF TEN CITIES BY Sax.
Cities.
Males.
Females.
-1^,831
41,866
28,936
35,727
29,165
38,131
18,960
21,414
I4,2l6
18,138
13,334
16,061
13,333
15,396
Charleston S C
14,187
16,849
St Louis ... . ....
13,247
I3,8l9
IvOuisville, Ky.
13,348
15,324
Total
192,557
232,725
Proportion
I,OOO
1208.5
* Includes Chinese, Japanese and civilized Indians an element that can be
ignored, "being small.
This is a very marked excess and lias far-reaching effects.
In Philadelphia this excess can be traced back some years :
PHILADELPHIA NEGROES BY SEX. *
County of Philadelphia.
City of Philadelphia.
Year.
Males.
Females.
Number
Females
to 1000
Males.
Year.
Males.
Females.
Number
Females
to roco
Males.
1820
1838
1840
1850
1890
5,220
6,896
S,3^
6,671
9,146
11,515
1,091
1,326
1,387
1820
1838
1840
1850
1890
3,156
3,772
3,986
8,435
18,960
4,426
5,304
6,521
11,326
21,414
I,3S3
1,395
1,630
1,348
1,127
The cause of this excess is easy to explain. From the
beginning the industrial opportunities of Negro women in
and Indians. The figures for the whole United States show that this
excess of females is probably confined to cities :
NEGKOES ACCORDING TO SEX.
SECTION.
MALES.
FEMALES.
United States
3.72 s ;. 561
3,744,479
North Atlantic ...
I -2 -1.277
116 620
South Atlantic
I 6l^.76Q
1.64.8 Q2I
North Central
222,384
208,728
South Central
1,7-^9,565
1,739,686
Western
1 6 566
IO 5K
* Figures for other years have not been found.
Sect 1 3.] The City for a Century. 55
cities have been far greater than those of men, through their
large employment in domestic service. At the same time the
restriction of employments open to Negroes, which per
haps reached a climax in 1830-1840, and which still plays
a great part, has served to limit the number of men. The
proportion, therefore, of men to women is a rough index
of the industrial opportunities of the Negro. At first there
was a large amount of work for all, and the Negro ser
vants and laborers and artisans poured into the city. This
lasted up until about 1820, and at that time we find the
number of the sexes approaching equality in the county,
although naturally more unequal in the city proper. In
the next two decades the opportunities for work were
greatly restricted for the men, while at the same time,
through the growth of the city, the demand for female
servants increased, so that in 1840 we have about seven
women to every five men in the county, and sixteen to
every five in the city. Industrial opportunities for men then
gradually increased largely through the growth of the city,
the development of new callings for Negroes and the in
creased demand for male servants in public and private.
Nevertheless the disproportion still indicates an unhealthy
condition, and its effects are seen in a large percent of
illegitimate births, and an unhealthy tone in much of the
social intercourse among the middle class of the Negro
population. 5
Looking now at the age structure of the Negroes, we
notice the disproportionate number of young persons, that
is, women between eighteen and thirty and men between
twenty and thirty-five. The colored population of Phila
delphia contains an abnormal number of young untrained
persons at the most impressionable age ; at the age when,
5 In social gatherings, in the churches, etc., men are always at a
premium, and this very often leads to lowering the standard of admission
to certain circles, and often give's one the impression that the social level
of the women is higher than the level of the men.
Size, Age and Sex.
[Chap. V.
as statistics of the world show, the most crime is committed,
when sexual excess is more frequent, and when there has
not been developed fully the feeling of responsibility and
personal worth. This excess is more striking in recent
years than formerly, although full statistics are not
available :
Proportion of Population.
1848.
1880.
1890.*
14.7
9.8
7-8
33-6
22.5
41.8
63.6f
Over 50 years
9-9
6. it
* Including 1 Chinese, Japanese and Indians. 1 15 to 55. \ Over 55.
This table is too meagre to be conclusive, but it is proba
ble that while the age structure of the Negro urban popu
lation in 1848 was about normal, it has greatly changed in
recent years. Detailed statistics for 1890 make this
plainer :
NEGROES* OF PHILADELPHIA BY SEX AND AGE, 1890.
Ages.
Males.
Per Cent.
Females.
Per Cent.
Total.
Under I ...
400
2.1
369
J -7
769
T to d.
1,121
5.9
1,264
5-9
2,385
1,458
7.7
1,515
'7.1
2,973
10 to 14
1,409
7-5
*>567
7.4
2,976
TC to IQ
2,455
7-7
2,123
9-9
3,578
20 to 24
2,408
12.9
3.133
14.8
5,541
i.">2i
15.5
2,774
13.1
5,295
2,034
10.9
2,046
9.6
4,080
7C to Ad.
3,375
18.0
3,139
14.8
6 ,5 J 4
a? to ^4.
1,645
8.7
1,783
8.4
3,428
re to 64 ....
581
3.1
799
3*9
1,380
65 and over ....
^
376
2.O
*'l-
726
3.4
I,IO2
177
176
3 S3
Total
18,960
100.0
21,414
IOO.O
40,374
* Includes 1003 Chinese, Japanese and Indians.
Comparing this with the age structure of other groups
we have this table : 6
6 The age groupings in these tables are necessarily unsatisfactory on
account of the vagaries of the census.
Sect. 13.]
The City for a Century.
57
Age.
Negroes of
Fhilad'a.
Negroes
U.S.
England.
France.
Germany.
United
States.
Under 10 .
10 to 20 . .
20 to 30 . .
30 and over
I5-3I
16.37
27.08
41.24
28.22
25.19
17.40
29.19
23.9
21-3
17.02
37-6
17-5
17.4
16.3
48.8
24.2
20.7
16.2
38.9
24.29
21.70
18.24
35-77
In few large cities does the age structure approach the
abnormal condition here presented ; the most obvious com
parison would be with the age structure of the whites of
Philadelphia, for 1890, which may be thus represented :
NEGRO
MALES ACES
FEMALES
WHITE .8.
MALES AGJES FEMALES
We find then in Philadelphia a steadily and, in recent
years, rapidly growing Negro population, in itself as large
as a good-sized city, and characterized by an excessive
number of females and of young persons.
58 Size, Age and Sex. [Chap. V.
14. The Seventh Ward, 1896. We shall now make a
more intensive study of the Negro population, confining
ourselves to one typical ward for the year 1896. Of
the nearly forty thousand Negroes in Philadelphia in 1890,
a little less than a fourth lived in the Seventh Ward, and
over half in this and the adjoining Fourth, Fifth and
Eighth Wards :
Ward.
Negroes.
Whites.
Seventh. ... ....
886l
21 IT7
Eighth
^.OII
I 1 * QAO
Fourth . . . . .
2 ^7**
17 *7Q2
Fifth
2,335
- 1 /) /y<*
14,619
The distribution of Negroes in the other wards may be
seen by the accompanying map. (See opposite page.)
The Seventh Ward starts from the historic centre of
Negro settlement in the city, Sbuth Seventh street and
Lombard, and includes the long narrow strip, beginning at
South Seventh and extending west, with South and Spruce
streets as boundaries, as far as the Schuylkill River. The
colored population of this ward numbered 3621 in 1860,
4616 in 1870, and 8861 in 1890. It is a thickly populated
district of varying character ; north of it is the residence
and business section of the city ; south of it a middle
class and workingmen's residence section ; at the east end
it joins Negro, Italian and Jewish slums ; at the west end,
the wharves of the river and an industrial section separat
ing it from the grounds of the University of Pennsylvania
and the residence section of West Philadelphia.
Starting at Seventh street and walking along Lombard,
let us glance at the general character of the ward. Pausing
a moment at the corner of Seventh and Lombard, we can
at a glance view the worst Negro slums of the city. The
houses are mostly brick, some wood, not very old, and in
general uncared for rather than dilapidated. The blocks
between Eighth, Pine, Sixth and South have for many
decades been the centre of Negro population. Here
Sect 14.]
The Seventh Ward, 1896.
59
the riots of the thirties took place, and here once was a
depth of poverty and degradation almost unbelievable.
Even to-day there are many evidences of degradation,
although the signs of idleness, shiftlessness, dissoluteness
and crime are more conspicuous than those of poverty.
60 Sise y Age and Sex. [Chap. V.
The alleys 7 near, as Ratcliffe street, Middle alley, Brown's
court, Barclay street, etc., are haunts of noted criminals,
male and female, of gamblers and prostitutes, and at the
same time of many poverty-stricken people, decent but not
energetic. There is an abundance of political clubs, and
nearly all the houses are practically lodging houses, with
a miscellaneous and shifting population. The corners,
night and day, are filled with Negro loafers able-bodied
young men and women, all cheerful, some with good-
natured, open faces, some with traces of crime and excess,
a few pinched with poverty. They are mostly gamblers,
thieves and prostitutes, and few have fixed and steady
occupation of any kind. Some are stevedores, porters,
laborers and laundresses. On its face this slum is noisy
and dissipated, but not brutal, although now and then
highway robberies and murderous assaults in other parts
of the city are traced to its denizens. Nevertheless the
stranger can iisually walk about here day and night with
little fear of being molested, if he be not too inquisitive. 8
Passing up Lombard, beyond Eighth, the atmosphere
suddenly changes, because these next two blocks have few
alleys and the residences are good-sized and pleasant.
Here some of the best Negro families of the ward live.
Some are wealthy in a small way, nearly all are Philadel
phia born, and they represent an early wave of emigration
from the old slum section. 9 To the south, on Rodman
7 "In the Fifth Ward only there are 171 small streets and courts;
Fourth Ward, 88. Between Fifth and Sixth, South and Lombard streets,
15 courts and alleys.* ' " First Annual Report College Settlement
Kitchen." p. 6.
8 In a residence of eleven months in the centre of the slums, I never
was once accosted or insulted. The ladies of the College Settlement
report similar experience. I have seen, however, some strangers here
roughly handled.
9 It is often asked why do so many Negroes persist in living in the
slums. The answer is, they do not; the slum is continually scaling off
emigrants for other sections, and receiving new accretions from without.
Thus the efforts for social betterment put forth here have often their best
The Seventh Ward of Philadelphia
The Distribution of Negro Inhabitants Throughout the Ward,
and their social condition
z
a
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h
z
UJ
K
5T.
NAUDA1N
a
I
nr
Grade 3: The Poor.
Grade 2: The Working People -Fair to Comfortable.
Grade 1: The "Middle Classes" and those above.
RiiilHInn<; pt
(continued)
SPRUCE
LOMBARD
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Grade 4: Vicious and Criminal Classes.
Grade 3: The Poor.
Grade 2: The Working People Fair to Comfortable.
(For a more detailed explanation of the meaning of the different grades,
see 3 46, chap, xv.)
ST.
DELANCEY
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Grade 1: The "Middle Classes" and those above.
Residences of Whites, Stores, Public Buildings, etc.
SPRUCE
Grade 4: Vicious and Criminal Classes.
Grade 3: The Poor.
Grade 2: Thfe Working People Fair to Comfortable.
Grade 1: The "Middle Classes" and those above.
Residences of Whites, Stores, Public Buildings, etc.
(continued)
JL
O
a:
CO
SPRUCE
Grade 4; Vicious and Criminal Classes.
Grade 3: The Poor.
Grade 2: The Working People Fair to Comfortable.
I
E
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-?
How
Grade 1: The "Middle Glasses" and those above.
Residences of Whites, Stores, Public Buildings, etc.
SPRUCE
PENN SYLVAN
SOUTH
Grade 4: Vicious and Criminal Classes.
Grade 3: The Poor.
Grade 2: The Working People Fair to Comfortable.
Grade 1: The "Middle Classes" and those above.
Residences of Whites, Stores, Public Buildings,- etc.
Sect. 14.] The Seventh Ward, 1896. 61
street, are families of the same character. North of
Pine and below Eleventh there are practically no Negro
residences. Beyond Tenth street, and as far as Broad
street, the Negro population is large and varied in char
acter. On small streets like Barclay and its extension below
Tenth Souder, on Ivy, Rodman, Salem, Heins, Isemin-
ger, Ralston, etc., is a curious mingling of respectable
working people and some of a better class, with recent
immigrations of the semi-criminal class from the slums.
On the larger streets, like Lombard and Juniper, there live
many respectable colored families native Philadelphians,
Virginians and other Southerners, with a fringe of more
questionable families. Beyond Broad, as far as Sixteenth,
the good character of the Negro population is maintained
except in one or two back streets, 10 From Sixteenth to
Eighteenth, intermingled with some estimable families, is
a dangerous criminal class. They are not the low, open
idlers of Seventh and Lombard, but rather the graduates of
that school : shrewd and sleek politicians, gamblers and
confidence men, with a class of well-dressed and partially
undetected prostitutes. This class is not easily differen
tiated and located, but it seems to centre at Seventeenth
and Lombard. Several large gambling houses are near
here, although more recently one has moved below Broad,
indicating a reshifting of the criminal centre. The whole
community was an earlier immigration from Seventh and
Lombard. North of Lombard, above Seventeenth, includ
ing Lombard street itself, above Eighteenth, is one of the
best Negro residence sections of the city, centring about
Addison street. Some undesirable elements have crept in
even here, especially since the Christian League attempted to
results elsewhere* since the beneficiaries move away and others fill their
places. There is, of course, a permanent nucleus of inhabitants, and
these, in some cases, are really respectable and decent people. The
forces that keep such a class in the slums are discussed further on.
10 Gulielma street, for instance, is a notorious nest for bad characters,
with only one or two respectable families.
62 Size, Age and Sex. [Chap. V.
clear out the Fifth Ward slums, 11 but still it remains a centre
of quiet, respectable families, who own their own homes
and live well. The Negro population practically stops at
Twenty-second street, although a few Negroes live beyond.
We can thus see that the Seventh Ward presents an epit
ome of nearly all the Negro problems ; that every class is
represented, and varying conditions of life. Nevertheless
one must naturally be careful not to draw too broad con
clusions from a single ward in one city. There is no proof
that the proportion between the good and the bad here is
normal, even for the race in Philadelphia ; that the social
problems affecting Negroes in large Northern cities are
presented here in most of their aspects seems credible, but
that certain of those aspects are distorted and exaggerated
by local peculiarities is also not to be doubted.
In the fall of 1896 a, house-to-house visitation was made
to all the Negro families of this ward. The visitor went
in person to each residence and called for the head of the
family. The housewife usually responded, the husband
now and then, and sometimes an older daughter or other
member of the family. The fact that the University was
making an investigation of this character was known and
discussed in the ward, but its exact scope and character was
not known. The mere announcement of the purpose
secured, in all but about twelve cases, 12 immediate admis
sion. Seated then in the parlor, kitchen, or living room,
11 The almost universal and unsolicited testimony of better class
Negroes was that the attempted clearing out of the slums of the Fifth
Ward acted disastrously upon them; the prostitutes and gamblers emi
grated to respectable Negro residence districts, and real estate agents, on
the theory that all Negroes belong to the same general class, rented them
houses. Streets like Rodman and Juniper were nearly ruined, and pro
perty which the thrifty Negroes had bought here greatly depreciated, It
is not well to clean a cess-pool until one knows where the refuse can be
disposed of without general harm.
The majority of these were brothels. A few, however, were homes
of respectable people who -esented the investigation as unwarranted and
unnecessary.
Sect. 14.] The Seventh Ward, 1896. 63
the visitor began the questioning, using his discretion as to
the order in which they were put, and omitting or adding
questions as the circumstances suggested. Now and then
the purpose of a particular query was explained, and usually
the object of the whole inquiry indicated. General discus
sions often arose as to the condition of the Negroes, which
were instructive. From ten minutes to an hour was spent in
each home, the average time being fifteen to twenty-five
minutes.
Usually the answers were prompt and candid, and gave
no suspicion of previous preparation. In some cases
there was evident falsification or evasion. In such cases
the visitor made free use of his best judgment and either
inserted no answer at all, or one which seemed approxi
mately true. In some cases the families visited were not at
home, and a second or third visit was paid. In other cases,
and especially in the case of the large class of lodgers, the
testimony of landlords and neighbors often had to be taken.
No one can make an inquiry of this sort and not be
painfully conscious of a large margin of error from omis
sions, errors of judgment and deliberate deception. Of
such errors this study has, without doubt, its full share.
Only one fact was peculiarly favorable and that is the
proverbial good nature and candor of the Negro. With
a more cautious and suspicious people much less success
could have been obtained. Naturally some questions were
answered better than others ; the chief difficulty arising in
regard to the questions of age and income. The ages
given for people forty and over have a large margin of
error, owing to ignorance of the real birthday. The ques
tion of income was naturally a delicate one, and often had
to be gotten at indirectly. The yearly income, as a round
sum, was seldom asked for ; rather the daily or weekly
wages taken and the time employed during the year.
On December i, 1896, there were in the Seventh Ward
of Philadelphia 9675 Negroes; 4501 males and 5174
Size, Age and Sex.
[Chap. V.
females. This total includes all persons of Negro descent,
and thirty-three intermarried whites. 13 It does not include
NEGRO POPULATION OF SEVENTH WARD.
Age.
Male.
Female.
57
641
483
675
1,276
1,444
1,046
1,084
553
632
298
33^
114
155
41
96
Age unknown
120
116
Total
4,501
5.174
Grand total 9> 6 75
residents of the ward then in prisons or in almshouses.
There were a considerable number of omissions among- the
loafers and criminals without homes, the class of lodgers
and the club-house habitues. These were mostly males,
and their inclusion would somewhat affect the division by
sexes, although probably not to a great extent. 14 The
increase of the Negro population in this ward for six and a
half years is 814, or at the rate of 14.13 per cent per decade.
This is perhaps somewhat smaller than that for the popula
tion of the city at large, for the Seventh Ward is crowded and
overflowing into other wards. Possibly the present Negro
population of the city is between 43,000 and 45,000. At
all events it is probable that the crest of the tide of immi
gration is passed, and that the increase for the decade 1890
-1900 will not be nearly as large as the 24 per cent of the
decade 1880-1890.
13 Twenty-nine women and four men. The question of race inter
marriage is discussed in Chapter XIV,
"There may have been some duplication in the counting of servant
girls who do not lodge where they work. Special pains was taken to
count them only where they lodge, but there must have been some errors.
Again, the Seventh Ward has a very large number of lodgers; some of
these form a sort of floating population, and here were omissions; some
were forgotten by landladies and others purposely omitted.
Sect. 14.]
The Seventh Ward, 1896.
The division by sex indicates still a very large and, it
would seem, growing excess of women. The return shows
1150 females to every 1000 males. Possibly through
the omission of men and the unavoidable duplication of
some servants lodging away from their place of service,
the disproportion of the sexes is exaggerated. At any rate
it is great, and if growing, may be an indication of increased
restriction in the employments open to Negro men since
1880 or even since 1890.
The age structure also presents abnormal features. 16
Comparing the age structure with that of the large cities
of Germany, we have :
Age.
Negroes of
Philadelphia.
Large Cities
of Germany.
25 I
^Q ^
CT 7
^7.2
Over 40
A -0
23.6
23-5
Comparing it with the Whites and Negroes in the city
in 1890, we have :
Age.
Negroes of
Philadelphia,
1896,
Seventh Ward.
Negroes*
of
Philadelphia,
1890.
Native Whites
of
Philadelphia,
1890.
Tinder 10
12.8$
I5-3 J $
24.6$
12.3
16.37
19.5
2 8.|
27.08
18.5
30 and over
46.2
41.24
37-4
*Includes 1003 Chinese, Japanese and Indians.
As was noticed in the whole city in 1890, so here is even
more striking evidence of the preponderance of young peo
ple at an age when sudden introduction to city life is apt
to be dangerous, and of an abnormal excess of females.
15 There is a wide margin of error in the matter of Negroes' ages, espe
cially of those above fifty; even of those from thirty-five to fifty, the age
is often unrecorded and is a matter of memory, and poor memory at that.
Much pains was taken during the canvass to correct errors and to throw
out obviously incorrect answers. The error in the ages under forty is
probably not large enough to invalidate the general conclusions; those
under thirty are as correct as is general in such statistics, although the
CHAPTER VI.
CONJUGAL, CONDITION.
15. The Seventh Ward. The conjugal condition of
the Negroes above fifteen years of age living in the Seventh
Ward is as follows : x
Conjugal Condition.
Males.
Per Cent.
Females.
Percent.
Single
1,482
41.4
1,240
30.5
1,876
C2 *\
I Ql8
4.7 I
200
\ V
8<1I
>
Permanently separated ....
18
I 6 - 1
66
{ 22.4
Total
^.^76
IOO O
406^
IOO O
12^
J7Q
Under 15 .. . . . .
800
Q7Q
Total population
4,50T
. . .
5,174
. . .
For a people comparatively low in the scale of civiliza
tion there is a large proportion of single men more than
in Great Britain, France or Germany ; the number of mar
ried women, too, is small, while the large number of wid
owed and separated indicates widespread and early breaking
ages of children under ten is liable to err a year or so from the truth.
Many women have probably understated their ages and somewhat
swelled the period of the thirties as against the forties. The ages over
fifty have a large element of error.
1 There are many sources of error in these returns: it was found that
widows usually at first answered the question " Are you married ? M in
the negative, and the truth had to be ascertained by a second question;
unfortunate women and questionable characters generally reported
themselves as married; divorced or separated persons called themselves
widowed. Such of these errors as were made through misapprehension,
were often corrected by additional questions; in case of designed decep
tion the answer was naturally thrown out if the deception was detected,
which of course happened in few cases. The net result of these errors is
difficult to ascertain: certainly they increase the apparent number of the
truly widowed to some extent at the expense of the single and married.
(66)
Sect. 15.] The Seventh Ward. 67
tip of family life. 2 The number of single women is
probably lessened by unfortunate girls, and increased some
what by deserted wives who report themselves as single.
The number of deserted wives, however, allowing for false
reports, is astoundingly large and presents many intricate
problems. A very large part of charity given to Negroes
is asked for this reason. The causes of desertion are partly
laxity in morals and partly the difficulty of supporting a
family.
The lax moral habits of the slave regime still show
themselves in a large amount of cohabitation without mar
riage. In the slum districts there are many such families,
which remain together years and are in effect common law
marriages. Some of these connections are broken by
whim or desire, although in many cases they are permanent
unions.
The economic difficulties arise continually among
young waiters and servant girls ; away from home and
oppressed by the peculiar lonesomeness of a great city,
they form chance acquaintances here and there, thought
lessly marry and soon find that the husband's income
cannot alone support a family ; then comes a struggle
which generally results in the wife's turning laundress,
but often results in desertion or voluntary separation.
The great number of widows is noticeable. The condi
tions of life for men are much harder than for women and
they have consequently a much higher death rate. Unac
knowledged desertion and separation also increases this
total. Then, too, a large number of these widows are
2 The number of actually divorced persons among the Negroes is
naturally insignificant; on the other hand the permanent separations are
large in number and an attempt has been made to count them. They do
not exactly correspond to the divorce column of ordinary statistics and
therefore take something from the married column. The number of
widowed is probably exaggerated somewhat, but even allowing for errors,
the true figure is high. The markedly higher death rate for males has
much to do with this. Cf. Chapter X.
68
Conjugal Condition.
[Chap. VI.
simply unmarried mothers and thus represent the unchastity
of a large number of women. 3
The result of this large number of homes without hus
bands is to increase the burden of charity and benevolence,
and also on account of their poor home life to increase
crime. Here is a wide field for social regeneration.
Separating the sexes by age periods according to conjugal
condition we have these tables :
MALES.
70 and
Unk.
Conjugal Condition.
15-19.
20-29.
30-39-
40-49.
5-59-
60-69.
over.
Age.
Single
Married ....
250
2
783
474
298
681
90
396
23
212
6
79
2
17
2O
15
"Widowed . .
7
43
53
42
30
21
4
Separated . . -
3
9
5
I
. .
*
FEMALES.
Conjugal Condition.
15-19.
20-29.
30-39-
40-49.
50-59-
60-69
70 and
over.
Unk.
Age.
Single
Married ....
337
35
559
754
222
633
68
3^6
32
no
9
34
3
4
10
22
Widowed ....
47
192
217
179
in
88
9
Separated - .
23
22
12
5
i
i
2
When we remember that in slavery-time slaves usually
began to cohabit at an early age, these figures indicate
the sudden and somewhat disastrous application of the
preventive check to population through the economic stress
of life in large cities. Negro girls no longer marry in
their 'teens as their mothers and grandmothers did. Of
those in the twenties over 40 per cent are still unmarried,
and of those in the thirties 21 per cent. So sudden a
change in marriage customs means grave dangers, as shown
by the fact that forty-five of the married couples under
forty were permanently separated and 239 women were
widowed.
3 Unfortunately Philadelphia has no reliable registration of births, and
the illegitimate birth rate of Negroes cannot be ascertained. This is
probably high judging from other conditions.
Sect. 15.]
The Seventh Ward.
69
If we reduce the general conjugal condition to per cents,
we have this table :
MEN.
Conjugal Condition.
15-40-
40-60.
Over 60.
Single
1,333
1,157
50
12
%
52.2
45-3
},5
i
9 i
%
13-7
73-9
} 12.4
8
96
51
%
5-1
62.0
32.9
Married
Widowed . .
Separated
Total
2,552
100
822
100
^55
100
Here it is plain that although a large per cent of men
under forty marry there is nevertheless a number who wait
until they are settled in life and have a competence. With
the mass of Negroes, however, the waiting past the fortieth
year means simply increased caution about marriage ; or,
if they are widowers, about remarriage. Consequently
while, for instance, in Germany 84.8 per cent of the men
from forty to sixty are married, among the Negroes of this
ward less than 74 per cent are married. At the same time
there are indications of a large number of broken marriage
ties. Of the men under forty the bulk marry late, that is
in the thirties :
Conjugal Condition.
20-29.
30-39.
Single
6i.8Jf
29$
37-4
66
Separated
I "^
5
Total
100^
100%
Turning now to the women, we have a table in which
Conjugal
Condition.
15-40.
40-60.
Over 60.
Number.
Per Cent.
Number.
Per Cent.
Number.
Per Cent.
Single ....
Married . . .
Widowed . . .
Separated . .
1,118
1,422
239
45
39- 6
50-3
| 10. 1
IOO
436
J 396
\ 1 7
10.5
46.0
} 43-5
12
33
{I 99
4-9
15-0
} 80. 1
Total ....
2,824
IOO
949
IOO
251
IOO
Conjugal Condition.
[Chap. VI.
the noticeable feature is the extraordinary number of wid
owed and separated persons, indicating economic stress, a
high death rate and lax morality. Such are the social
results of a large excess of young women in a city where
young men cannot afford to marry. Of the women below
forty, we have this tabulation :
Conjugal Condition.
15-19.
20-29.
30-39.
Single
QO.6%
4.0.4.$
20 8
Married ...
Q.4.
9.4
S4. S
5Q 2
Widowed . . .
Separated . .......
I -
5-1
20.
The comparatively large number of separations is here
to be noticed, and the fact that over a fifth of the women
between thirty and forty are unmarried and 40 per cent
are without husbands.
From all these statistics, making some allowance for the
small number of persons counted and the peculiar
conditions of the ward, we may conclude :
1. That a tendency to much later marriage than under
the slave system is revolutionizing the Negro family and
incidentally leading to much irregularity.
2. There is nevertheless still the temptation for young
men and women under forty to enter into matrimony
before their economic condition warrants it.
3. Among persons over forty there is a marked tendency
to single life.
4. The very large number of the widowed and separated
points to grave physical, economic and moral disorder.
16. The City. The census of 1890 showed that the
conjugal condition of Negroes in the city was as follows :
Conjugal Condition.
Males over 15
Females over 15
Number.
Per Cent.
Number
Per Cent.
Single
6,047
7,042
603
15
44.0
51-3
44
3
6,267
7,154
3,073
35
37-8
425
18.6
i.i
Married
Widowed . . ...
Divorced
Total
13,707
100
16,534
100
Sect. 16.] The City. 71
Similar statistics for native whites with native parents
for the city, are :
Conjugal Condition.
Males
over 15.
Females
over 15.
Single
A.1 2 9??
18 o#
Married
C2 n
jo.uyo
vtQ O
Widowed
0-** u
4.5
4y. u
Tl 7
Divorced
3
-3
Total
100%
100$
These figures, although six years earlier, for the most part
confirm the statistics of the Seventh Ward, except in the
statistics of separation. In this respect the returns for the
Seventh Ward are probably more reliable, as the census
counted only actually divorced persons. The largest dis
crepancy is in the percentage of single females ; this prob
ably comes from the fad that outside the Seventh Ward
the single servant girls form a large part of the Negro
population. On the whole it is noticeable that the conjugal
condition of the Negroes approaches so nearly that of the
whites, when the economic and social history of the two
groups has been so strikingly different.
These statistics are the best measurements of the condi
tion and tendencies of the Negro home which we have,
and although they are crude and difficult in some cases
rightly to interpret, yet they shed much light on the
problem. First it must be remembered that the Negro
home and the stable marriage state is for the mass of the
colored people of the country and for a large per cent of
those of Philadelphia, a new social institution. The strictly
guarded savage home life of Africa, which with all its
shortcomings protected womanhood, was broken up com
pletely by the slave ship, and the promiscuous herding of
the West Indian plantation put in its stead. From this
evolved the Virginia plantation where the double row of
little slave cabins were but parts of a communistic pater
nalism centring in the Big House which was the real centre
JZ Conjugal Condition. [Chap. VI.
of the family life. Even in Pennsylvania where the plan
tation system never was developed the slave family was
dependent in morals as well as work upon the master.
With emancipation the Negro family was first made inde
pendent and with the migration to cities we see for the first
time the thoroughly independent Negro family. On the
whole it is a more successful institution than we had a
right to expect, even though the Negro has had a couple of
centuries of contact with some phases of the monogamic
ideal. 4 The great weakness of the Negro family is still
lack of respect for the marriage bond, inconsiderate
entrance into it, and bad household economy and family
government. Sexual looseness then arises as a secondary
consequence, bringing adultery and prostitution in its train.
And these results come largely from the postponement of
marriage among the young. Such are the fruits of sudden
social revolution. 5
4 And, to tell the truth, contact with some very unsavory phases of it.
5 There can be no doubt but what sexual looseness is to-day the pre
vailing sin of the mass of the Negro population, and that its prevalence
can be traced to bad home life in most cases. Children are allowed on
the street night and day unattended; loose talk is often indulged in; the
sin is seldom if ever denounced in the churches. The same freedom is
allowed the poorly trained colored girl as the white girl who has come
through a strict home, and the result is that the colored girl more often
falls. Nothing but strict home life can avail in such cases. Of course
there is much to be said in palliation: the Negress is not respected by
men as white girls are, and consequently has no such general social
protection; as a servant, maid, etc., she has peculiar temptations;
especially the whole tendency of the situation of the Negro is to kill his
self-respect which is tbe greatest safeguard of female chastity.
CHAPTER VII.
SOURCES OF THE NEGRO POPULATION.
17. The Seventh Ward. We have seen that there is in
Philadelphia a large population of Negroes, largely young
unmarried folks with a disproportionate number of women.
The question now arises, whence came these people ? How
far are they native Philadelphians, and how far immigrants,
and if the latter, how long have they been here ? Much
depends on the answer to these questions ; no conclusions
as to the effects of Northern city conditions on Negroes, as
to the effects of long, close contact with modern culture,
as to the general question of social and economic survival
on the part of this race, can be intelligently answered until
we know how long these people have been under the
influence of given conditions, and how they were trained
before they came. 1
It is often tacitly assumed that the Negroes of Philadel
phia are one homogeneous mass, and that the slums of the
Fifth Ward, for instance, are one of the results of long
contact with Philadelphia city life on the part of this
mass. There is just enough truth and falsehood in such an
assumption to make it dangerously misleading. The slums
of Seventh and Lombard streets are largely the results of
the contact of the Negro with city life, but the Negro in
question is a changing variable quantity and has felt city
1 The chief source of error in the returns as to birthplace are tlie
answers of those who do not desire to report their birthplace as in the
South. Naturally there is considerable social distinction between
recently arrived Southerners and old Philadelphians; consequently the
tendency is to give a Northern birthplace. For this reason it is probable
that even a smaller number than the few reported were really born in
the city.
(73)
74
Sources of the Negro Population. [Chap. VII.
influences for periods varying in different persons from one
day to seventy years. A generalization then that includes
a North Carolina boy who has migrated to the city for
work and has been here for a couple of months, in the
same class with a descendant of several generations of
Philadelphia Negroes, is apt to make serious mistakes. The
first lad may deserve to be pitied if he falls into dissipation
and crime, the second ought perhaps to be condemned
severely. In other words our judgment of the thousands
of Negroes of this city must be in all cases considerably
modified by a knowledge of their previous history and
antecedents.
Of the 9675 Negroes in the Seventh Ward, 9138 gave
returns as to their birthplace. Of these, there were born :
In Philadelphia 2939 or 32.1 per cent.
In Pennsylvania, outside of Philadelphia . 526 or 6.0 "
In the New England and Middle States . 485 or 5.3 "
In the South 4980 or 54.3 "
In the West and in foreign lands . , . , 208 or 2.3 "
That is to say, less than one-third of the Negroes living
in this ward were born here, and over one-half were born
in the South. Separating them by sex and giving their
birthplaces more in detail, we have :
BIRTHPLACE OF NEGROES, SEVENTH WARD.
Born in
Males
Females.
Total.
Philadelphia ... . .
I ^O7
I 632
2 Q3Q
Pennsylvania, outside of Philadelphia . .
Virginia ...
231
Q-3Q
295
I OI2
*iyjy
526
I Q^I
Maryland ....
S^O
7Q4
I ^Ad
Delaware ... . . . .
1 68
W+
2Q6
Af\A
New Jersey . . . ....
T/1T
IQO
-J'J T
District of Columbia
IA6
165
^11
Other parts, and undesignated parts, of the
South
528
l82
QIO
Other New England and Middle States .
Western States
62
28
$04
92
27
yiu
154
55
Foreign countries . . .
IIO
AT.
TC7
Unknown
2OI
2A.6
C-77
Total
4>5oi
5,174
9.675
Sect. 17.]
The Seventh Ward.
75
This means that a study of the Philadelphia Negroes
would properly begin in Virginia or Maryland and that
only a portion have had the opportunity of being reared
amid the advantages of a great city. To study this even
more minutely let us divide the population according to
age periods :
BIRTHPLACE BY AGE PERIODS.
Birthplace.
0-9.
10-20.
21-30.
31-40.
Over
40.
Un
known.
Total.
Philadelphia
1.004.
777
CA2
iRa
7 Q 6
TT
2 Q7O
Pennsylvania
Virginia, Maryland,
New Jersey, Dela
ware, District of Co
lumbia
8
117
101
52
A.12
O u ^
185
T ?6/l
^y
110
T Trn
3y u
168
Jooo
3
28
^>7OV
526
4 JOT
South in general , . .
North
West
*j/
20
II
10
*ij
79
12
A jO u T-
375
45
12
H GJ Cn O
X> O\v> C
,uyu
175
4 8
6
2
2
,4ux
910
154
cr
Foreign lands ....
2
IQ
2
TO
63
1A1
43
TfiC
42
61
I
180
00
153
C27
A 7
A 7
j.q.4
1U
o
ioy
OO/
Total
1,211
1,342
2,888
2,010
1,988
236
9,675
That the Negro immigration to the city is not an influx
of whole families is shown by the fact that 83 per cent of
the children under ten were born in Philadelphia. Of the
youth from ten to twenty about one-half were born in the
city* The great influx comes in the years from twenty-one
to thirty, for of these but 17 per cent were born in the
city ; of the men and women born between 1856 and 1865,
that is, in war time, about one-seventh were born in the
city; of the freedmen, that is those born before 1856, a
larger portion, one-fifth, were born in Philadelphia. The
wave of immigration may therefore be thus plotted :
Sources of the Negro Population. [Chap. VII.
PERSONS BORN
SINCE
1686
1876-86 J866-I675 1856-1865 Befarel8S6
THE WAVE OF NEGRO IMMIGRATION.
The square represents the Negro population of the
Seventh Ward, divided into segments according to age by
the upright lines ; the shaded portions show the proportion
of immigrants.
Further detailed information as to birthplace is given in
the next table. (See pages 77 and 78.)
Much of the immigration to Philadelphia is indirect ;
Negroes come from country districts to small towns ; then go
to larger towns ; eventually they drift to Norfolk, Va., or
to Richmond. Next they come to Washington, and finally
settle in Baltimore or Philadelphia. 2 The training they
receive from such wanderings is not apt to improve young
persons greatly, and the custom has undoubtedly helped to
swell the numbers of a large migratory criminal class who
are often looked upon as the product of particular cities,
when, as a matter of fact, they are the offscourings of
2 Compare "The Negroes of Farmville: A Social Study," in Bulletin
of U. S. Labor Bureau, January, 1898.
Sect. 17.]
The Seventh Ward.
77
PHILADELPHIA NEGROES OF SEVENTH WARD, 1896.
BIRTHPLACE MALES BY FIVE AGE PERIODS.
Section
Place.
0-9.
10-20.
21-30.
31-40.
Over
40.
Un
known.
City.
Philadelphia
486
337
208
123
151
2
State.
Pennsylvania . .
5
20
92
49
6 4
I
Neighboring
States.
New Jersey
10
20
*9
6
2
14
48
48
13
12
31
164
420
55
40
42
137
268
50
42
44
176
178
22
7^
O
5
6
o
i
Maryland
Virginia ....
District of Columbia .
Delaware
6
North Carolina ....
South Carolina ....
Georgia
5
I
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
I
21
5
o
I
o
I
I
o
o
o
5
97
22
14
II
2
o
4
13
2
9
o
I
55
63
16
5
5
o
2
I
3
4
3
o
2
50
35
II
10
i
4
o
i
4
3
2
2
O
2 9
o
I
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Florida
Mississippi
Louisiana ....
West Virginia ....
Kentucky
Tennessee
Missouri
Texas
" South "
s^
fcSSo
bte
*^
d
Massachusetts ....
Connecticut
I
2
I
2
o
4
2
o
7
I
8
i
i
I
I
5
3
i
4
2
15
O
O
o
o
o
New York
Rhode Island
Maine . .
\
Minnesota
I
o
o
o
I
4
I
o
o
o
4
2
o
o
5
2
I
2
o
3
o
2
o
o
o
o
Nebraska
Ohio
Michigan
Illinois
California
"West"
Foreign
Countries.
West Indies
Canada
o
2
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
37
i
3
2
I
O
o
o
30
I
I
I
I
2
24
3
o
o
o
o
I
o
Africa
Portugal .....
Mexico
East Indies
Nova Scotia . . .
South America . . . .
?
Unknown
8
7
87
56
25
108
Sources of the Negro Population. [Chap. VII.
PHILADELPHIA NEGROES OF SEVENTH WARD, 1896.
BIRTHPLACE FEMALES BY FIVE AGE PERIODS.
Section
Place.
0-9.
10-20.
21-30.
31-40.
Over
40.
Un
known.
City.
Philadelphia .....
5i3
400
294
1 66
245
9
State.
3
32
93
61
104
2
Neighboring
States.
15
16
35
13
i
19
92
129
31
26
44
254
431
69
56
52
217
242
29
7i
58
211
169
22
139
2
4
6
i
3
District of Columbia .
I
North Carolina ....
South Carolina ....
8
I
2
O
O
O
o
o
2
31
4
3
i
3
o
i
o
o
o
o
3
66
8
12
i
i
i
7
3
i
i
i
33
3 2
12
4
i
3
2
9
I
2
2
I
O
36
32
II
3
o
I
2
I
I
4
2
O
16
o
o
I
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Florida
Louisiana
West Virginia ....
Tennessee ......
Missouri
Texas
i* South M
New
England
and Middle
States.
Massachusetts ....
Connecticut
2
I
4
o
o
o
o
4
o
o
5
4
*7
i
o
4
2
15
4
o
7
i
o
o
3
10
9
2
3
o
I
I
o
New York
Rhode Island
Foreign West.
Countries.
Minnesota
2
O
3
4
o
I
I
J
o
6
o
i
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Michigan
Delaware
West Indies
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
2
7
3
i
i
7
I
3
o
o
3
6
5
o
3
o
o
o
o
I
Canada ......
South America ....
Cuba . . ....
>
II
12
55
49
38
81
* Intermarried whites.
country districts, sharpened and prepared for crime by the
slums of many cities through which they have passed.
Sect. 17.]
The Seventh Ward.
79
Besides these, there is the large and well-intentioned class
who are seeking to better their lot and are attracted by
the larger life of the city.
Much light, therefore, will be thrown on the question of
migration if we take the Negro immigrants as a class and
inquire how long they have lived in the city ; we can sepa
rate the immigrants into four classes, corresponding to the
waves of immigration : first, the ante-bellum immigrants,
resident tkirty-five years or more ; second, the refugees of
war time and the period following, resident twenty-one to
thirty-four years ; third, the laborers and sightseers of the
time of the Centennial, resident ten to twenty years ;
fourth, the recent immigration, which may be divided into
those resident from five to nine years, from one to four
years, and those who have been in the city less than a
year. Of 5337 immigrants, 3 the following classes may be
made :
Arrived since De
cember i.
Resident.
Number.
Per cent.
Per cent.
l8q>
Years.
Under i
I to 4
5 to 9
10 to 20
21 to 34
35 and over.
293
1,242
1,308
Ii43
1,040
3ii
5-5
23.2
24.5
21.4
19-4
6.0
} 28. 7
} 45-9
} 25.4
\ 53-2
j 46.8
1802 ...
1887
1875
1862 . . - .
Before 1860 . . .
Before 1896 . .
5,337
JOO
100
100
Thus we see that the majority of the present immigrants
arrived since 1887, and nearly 30 per cent since 1892.
Carrying out the division by age periods, we have :
3 In the case of lodgers not at home and sometimes of members of
families answers could not be obtained to this question. There were in
all 862 persons born outside the city from whom answers were not
obtained.
8o
Sources of the Negro Population. [Chap. VII.
Ape.
Years Resident.
0-9.
10-20.
21-30.
31-40.
Over 40.
Un
known.
Under i year
40
56
113
60
22
3
i to 4 years
77
181
648
239
94
3
5 to 9 years
10 to 20 years
48
o
J39
103
603
343
355
449
157
238
6
10
21 to 34 years
o
o
107
334
595
4
35 years and over
o
o
o
17
294
Total
165
479
1,814
1,454
1,400
26
This table simply confirms the testimony of others as to
the recent immigration of young people. Without doubt
these statistics of immigration considerably understate the
truth ; strong social considerations lead many Negroes to
give their birthplace as Philadelphia when, as a matter of
fact, it may be elsewhere. We may then safely conclude
that less than a third of the Negroes in the city were born
here, and of the others less than a quarter have been resi
dent twenty years or more. So that half the Negro popu
lation can not in any sense be said to be a product of the
city, but rather represents raw material, whose transforma
tion forms a pressing series of social problems. Of course,
not all immigrants are undesirable material, nor are the
native Negroes all creditable to the city ; on the contrary,
many of the best specimens of Negroes both past and
present were not born in the city, 4 while some of the most
baffling problems arise as to the young people of native
families. Nevertheless, as a whole, it is true that the
average of culture and wealth and social efficiency is far
lower among immigrants than natives, and that this gives
rise to the gravest of the Negro problems.
18. The City. The available figures for the past are not
many nor altogether reliable, yet it seems probable that
the per cent of immigrants to-day is as large as at any
previous time and perhaps larger. In 1848, 57.3 per cent
of 15,532 Negroes were natives of the State, and the
* Absalom Jones, Dorsey, Minton, Henry Jones and Augustin were
none of them natives of Philadelphia.
Sect 18.] The City. 81
remaining 42.7 per cent immigrants. In 1890 we have
only figures for the whole State, which show that 45 per
cent of the Negroes were immigrants mainly from Vir
ginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, North Carolina,
etc. 5 For Philadelphia the percentage would probably
be higher.
The new immigrants usually settle in pretty well-defined
localities in or near the slums, and thus get the worst pos
sible introduction to city life. In 1848, five thousand of
the 6600 immigrants lived in the narrow and filthy alleys
of the city and Moyamensing. To-day they are to be
found partly in the slums and partly in those small streets
with old houses, where there is a dangerous intermingling
of good and bad elements fatal to growing children and
unwholesome for adults. Such streets may be found in the
Seventh Ward, between Tenth and Juniper streets, in parts
of the Third and Fourth wards and in the Fourteenth and
Fifteenth wa rds. This mingling swells the apparent size
of many slum districts, and at the same time screens the
real criminals. Investigators are often surprised in the
worst districts to see red-handed criminals and good-hearted,
hard-working, honest people living side by side in apparent
harmony. Even when the new immigrants seek better
districts, their low standard of living and careless appear
ance make them unwelcome to the better class of blacks and
to the great mass of whites. Thus they find themselves
6 Chinese, Japanese and Indians are included in these tables. The
exact figures are:
Negro population of Pennsylvania 107,626
Of these, born in Pennsylvania 58,681
Virginia 19,873
Maryland 12,202
Delaware 4,851
New Jersey i>786
New York 891
North Carolina 1,362
District Columbia 1,131
Unknown 1,804
82 Sources of the Negro Population. [Chap. VII.
hemmed in between the slums and the decent sections,
and they easily drift into the happy-go-lucky life of
the lowest classes and rear young criminals for our jails.
On the whole, then, the sociological effect of the immigra
tion of Negroes is the same as that of illiterate foreigners
to this country, save that in this case the brunt of the
"burden of illiteracy, laziness and inefficiency has been, by
reason of peculiar social conditions, put largely upon the
shoulders of a group which is least prepared to bear it.
CHAPTER VIII.
EDUCATION AND
19. The History of Negro Education. Anthony
Benezet and the Friends of Philadelphia have the honor
of first recognizing the fact that the welfare of the State
demands the education of Negro children. On the
twenty-sixth of January, 1770, at the Philadelphia Monthly
Meeting of Friends, the general situation of the Negroes,
and especially the free Negroes, was discussed. On motion
of one, probably Benezet, it was decided that instruction
ought to be provided for Negro children. 1 A committee
was appointed, and on February 30 this committee pro
posed " that a committee of seven Friends be nominated
by the Monthly Meeting, who shall be authorized to
employ a schoolmistress of prudent and exemplary con
duct, to teach not more at one time than thirty children in
the first rudiments of school learning, and in sewing and
knitting. That the admission of scholars into the said
school be entrusted to the said committee, giving to the
children of free Negroes and Mulattoes the preference, and
the opportunity of being taught clear of expense to their
parents." A subscription of ^100 (about $266.67) was
recommended for this purpose. This report was adopted,
and the school opened June 28, 1770, with twenty-two
colored children in attendance. In September the pupils
had increased to thirty-six, and a teacher in sewing and
knitting was employed. Afterward those who could were
required to pay a sum, varying from seven shillings six
pence to ten shillings per quarter, for tuition. The following
1 This account Is mainly from the pamphlet: "A Brief Sketch of the
Schools for Black People," etc. Philadelphia, 1867.
(S3)
84 Education and Illiteracy. [Chap. VIII.
year a school-house was built on Walnut street, below
Fourth a one-story brick building, 32 by 1 8 feet.
From 1770 to 1775 two hundred and fifty children and
grown persons were instructed. Interest, however, began
to wane, possibly under the war-cloud, and in 1775 but
five Negro children were in attendance and some white
children were admitted. Soon, however, the parents were
aroused, and we find forty Negroes and six whites attend
ing.
After the war Benezet took charge of the school and
held it in his house at Third and Chestnut. At his death,
in 1784, he left a part of his estate to " hire and employ a
religious-minded person or persons to teach a number of
Negro, Mulatto or Indian children, to read, write, arithme
tic, plain accounts, needle- work, etc." Other bequests
were received, including one from a Negro, Thomas Shir
ley, and from this fund the schools, afterward known as the
Raspberry street schools, were conducted for many years,
and a small school is still maintained. In the early part
of the century sixty to eighty scholars attended the school,
and a night school was opened. In 1844 a lot on Raspberry
street was purchased, and a school-house erected. Here,
from 1844 to 1866, eight thousand pupils in all were
instructed.
Public schools for Negroes were not established until
about 1822, when the Bird school, now known as the
James Forten, was opened on Sixth street, above lyombard ;
in 1830 an iinclassified school in West Philadelphia was
begun, and in 1833 the Coates street school, now known
as the Vaux school, on Coates street (now called Fairmount
Avenue), near Fifth, was established. Other schools were
opened at Frankford in 1839, at Paschalville in 1841, on
Corn street in 1849, and at Holmesburg in 1854. In
1838 the Negro school statistics were as follows :
Sect. 19.] History of Negro Education.
NEGRO SCHOOI, STATISTICS, 1838.
Schools.
Pupils
Enrolled.
Average
Attendance.
9 free schools ... ... . .
I 116
711
3 schools, partly free
226
12*;
3 pay schools, white teachers ....
1 02
8q
10 pay schools, colored teachers
288
oy
260
25 schools
1,732
1,187
Total children of school age 3,025.
Ten years later school facilities had greatly increased:
NEGRO SCHOOL STATISTICS, 1847.
Schools.
Pupils
Enrolled.
Public Grammar School, X,ombard street . .
463
70
226
155
H3
166
207
32
81
12
67
296
Abolition Society Infant School, Lombard street
Public Primary School, Gaskill street . . . .
Raspberry Street School . - , . . .
Public Primary School Brown street ... . .
Adelphi School Wager street .... . . .
Shiloh Baptist* Church Infant School, Clifton and Cedar Sts.
Bedford Street School
Moral Reform School . . . . ...
Public School, Oak street, West Philadelphia
At undesignated public schools . . ....
At twenty private schools
Total
1,888
504
2,074
Total Negro children . .
4,466
This would seem tcj indicate a smaller percentage of
children in school than in the last decade a natural out
come of the period of depression through which the
Negroes had just passed.
In 1850 the United States census reported 3498 adults
who could neither read nor write, among the Negroes of
the city. The adult population at that time must have
been about 8000. There were 2176 children in school.
In 1856 we have another set of detailed statistics :
86
Ediication and Illiteracy. [Chap. VIII.
Schools.
Total
Enrolment.
Average
Attendance.
1,031
821
748
491
Benevolent and reformatory schools
211
33 1
Total
2,321
Children from 8 to 18 not in school 1,620.
The schools by this time had increased in number.
There were the following public schools :
Schools and Situations.
Number
Teachers.
Enrol
ment.
Average
Attendance
Bird, Sixth above Bombard street, Boys'
Department, Grammar School - ...
Bird, Sixth above Lombard street, Girls'
Department, Grammar School ....
Bird, Sixth above Bombard street, Primary
4
4
3
228
252
183
208
293
150
Robert Vaux, Coates street, unclassified .
West Philadelphia, Oak street, unclassified
Corn street unclassified ... ....
2
2
I
136
97
47
93
78
32
I
31
25
I
25
19
Banneker, Paschalville, unclassified . . .
I
32
15
Total
19
1,031
913
The public schools seemed to have been largely manned
by colored teachers, and were for a long time less efficient
than the charity schools. The grammar schools at one time,
about 1844, were about to be given up, but were saved,
and in 1856 were doing fairly well. The charity schools
were as follows :
Schools.
Teachers.
Enrol
ment.
Av. Attend
ance.
Institute for Colored Youth, Lombard St. .
Raspberry St. schools, Boys* Department
Raspberry St. schools, Girls' Department
Adelphi, Wager Street, Girls' Department
Adelphi, Wager street, Infants' Department
Sheppard Randolph street . . .
2
2
2
2
2
2
31
90
79
70
95
60
26
64
53
42
61
40
School at the House of Industry
School for Destitute, Lombard street . .
Infant School, South and Clifton streets .
House of Refuge School
3
I
3
3
100
73
150
119
75
45
85
in
Orphans' Shelter School, Thirteenth street
Home for Colored Children, Girard avenue
2
I
73
19
73
'9
Total
25
959
694
Sect. 19.] History of Negro Education. 87
Of the above schools, the House of Refuge, Orphans'
Shelter, House of Industry, and Home for Colored Children
were schools connected with benevolent and reformatory
institutions. The Raspberry school was that founded by
Benezet. The Institute for Colored Youth was founded by
Richard Humphreys, a West Indian ex-slaveholder, who
lived in Philadelphia. On his death, in 1832, he bequeathed
the sum of #10,000 to the Friends, to found an institution,
" having- for its object the benevolent design of instructing
the descendants of the African race in school learning, in the
various branches of the mechanic arts and trades, and in
agriculture, in order to prepare, fit and qualify them to act
as teachers." The Institute was acccordingly founded in
1837, chartered in 1842, and upon receiving further gifts
was temporarily located on L,ornbard street. In 1866
additional sums were raised, and the Institute located on
Bainbridge street, above Ninth, where it is still conducted.
There were in 1856 the following private schools :
Grade.
Schools.
Enrollment.
I
30
For grammar school work. . ...
2
3
IO
271
Total
13
331
There were also two night schools, with an attendance
of 150 or more.
The percentage of illiteracy in the city was still large.
Bacon's investigation showed that of 9021 adults over
twenty years of age, 45 ^ per cent were wholly illiterate,
16^ per cent could read and write and 19 per cent could
"read, write and cipher." Detailed statistics for each
ward are given in the next table :
88 Education and Illiteracy. [Chap. VIII.
ILLITERACY OF PHILADELPHIA NEGROES, 1854-6.
Ward.
Total
Adults over
20 Years
of Age.
Of these
there can
Read,
Write and
Cipher.
Read
and
Write.
Read.
Totally
Illiterate.
223
25
23
47
128
349
36
54
76
133
275
60
48
68
99
1,427
262
199
273
693
1,818
350
285
3^0
873
6
151
21
25
34
7i
1,867
431
337
3ii
788
8
060
204
192
199
374
7 ^
76
2O
16
*9
21
208
40
39
42
87
ii
37
2
ii
5
19
234
53
35
42
IO4
69
15
12
15
27
233
34
46
66
87
IS7
20
26
2 9
82
! ,
82
*7
12
13
40
7
J3
8
ii
38
18 ...
4
i
I
o
2
114
6
20
18
70
QO
22
12
15
50
2
O
i
I
36
7
4
7
18
24Q
30
43
48
128
24
252
41
34
37
140
Total
9,001
1,710
1,482
1,686
4,123
Separate schools for black and white were maintained
from the beginning, barring the slight mixing in the early
Quaker schools. Not only were the common schools sep
arate, but there were no public high schools for Negroes,
professional schools were closed to them, and within the
memory of living men the University of Pennsylvania not
only refused to admit Negroes as students, but even as
listeners in the lecture halls. 2 Not until 1881 was a law
passed declaring it " unlawful for any school director, super
intendent or teacher to make any distinction whatever on
account of, or by reason of, the race or color of any pupil
or scholar who may be in attendance upon, or seeking
admission to, any public or common school maintained
2 Within a few years a Negro had to fight his way through a promi
nent dental college in the city.
Sect. 20.] The Present Condition. 89
wholly or in part under the school laws of this common
wealth." This enactment was for some time evaded, and
even now some discrimination is practiced quietly in the
matter of admission and transfers. There are also schools
still attended solely by Negro pupils and taught by
Negro teachers, although, of course, the children are at
liberty to go elsewhere if they choose. They are kept
largely through a feeling of loyalty to Negro teachers.
In spite of the fact that several Negroes have been gradu
ated with high marks at the Normal School, and in at
least one case ''passed one of the best examinations for a
supervising principal's certificate that has been accom
plished in Philadelphia by any teacher," 3 yet no Negro
has been appointed to a permanent position outside the
few colored schools.
20. The Present Condition. There were, in 1896,
5930 Negro children in the public schools of the city,
against 6150 in 1895 and 6262 in 1897. Confining our
selves simply to the Seventh Ward, we find the total popu
lation of legal school age six to thirteen in Pennsylvania
was 862 in 1896, of whom 740, or 85.8 per cent, were
reported as attending school at some time during the year.
Of the persons five to twenty years of age about 48 per
cent were in school. Statistics by age and sex are in the
next table. 4 (See page 90.)
Some difference is to be noted between the sexes : Of
the children six to thirteen years of age, 85 per cent of the
boys and nearly 86 per cent of the girls are in school ; of
the youth fourteen to twenty, 20 per cent of the boys and
21 per cent of the girls are in school. The boys stop
school pretty suddenly at sixteen, the girls at seventeen*
3 Philadelphia Ledger, August 13, 1897.
4 The chief error in the school returns arises from irregularity in
attendance. Those reported in school were there sometime during the
year, and possibly off and on during the whole year, but many were not
steady attendants.
9 o Education and Illiteracy. [Chap. VIII.
Nearly u per cent of the children in school were in
attendance less than the full term f of these attending the
whole term there is much irregularity through absences
and tardiness. On the whole, therefore, the effective school
attendance is less than appears at first sight.
SCHOOL POPULATION AND ATTENDANCE (1896-97) BY
Negroes of the Seventh Ward.
Males.
Females.
Age.
School
School
School
School
Population.
Attendance.
Population.
Attendance.
Kindergarten f 4 years .
age \ 5 years .
67
46
5
II
66
5i
6
19
Total of Kindergarten age
"3
16
117
25
f 6 years
50
28
56
35
7 years
48
40
59
45
Pennsylva
nia legal
school age.
8 years
9 years
10 years
ii years
53
54
49
39
48
50
44
08
67
51
57
58
59
50
52
55
12 years
45
39
62
56
L 13 years
53
46
61
55
Total of legal school age
391
333
471
407
14 years
45
35
52
36
Youth
15 years
39
22
52
24
above legal
I 6 years
53
24
7i
31
school age, -
17 years
50
6
C 7
19
and under
i 8 years
55
4
80
4
voting age.
19 years
56
2
9 r
I
^ 20 years
67
O
122
2
Total youth . . 14-20
365
93
555
117
Total children . 5-20
802
437
1077
543
(Usual school age.)
The question of illiteracy is a difficult one to have
answered without actual tests, especially when the people
questioned have some motives for appearing less ignorant
than they actually are. The figures for the Seventh Ward,
therefore, undoubtedly understate the illiteracy somewhat ;
nevertheless the error is not probably large enough to
5 Of 647 school children 62 were in school less than nine months some
less than three. Probably many more than this did not attend the full
term.
Sect 20.]
The Present Condition.
deprive the figures of considerable value, and compared with
statistics taken in a similar manner they are probably of
average reliability. 6 Of 8464 Negroes in the Seventh
Ward the returns show that 12.17 per cent are totally
illiterate. Comparing this with previous years we have :
1850.
1856.
1870 .
, 44 percent.
1890 18 per cent,
1896 (7th Ward) 12.17 "
The large number of young people in the Seventh Ward
probably brings the average of illiteracy below the level
of the whole city. Why this is so may be seen if we take
the illiteracy of four age-classes :
Age.
Read and
Write.
Read. 1
Illiterate.
QA.%
2%
4?o
Men and women, 21 to 30 years of age . .
Men and women, 31 to 40 years of age .
Men and women, over 40 years of age . .
go
77
61
6
6
10
4
17
29
The same difference is plain if we take the returns of the
census of 1890 for the colored population of the whole city :
Age.
Illiterate
Males.
Illiterate
Females.
Total
Illiterates.
138
836
1,098
334
216
1,096
1,571
775
354
r >932
2,669
1,109
45 and over
Total (including those of unknown age)
2,450
3,719
6,169
Males.
15,981
Females.
18,266
Colored
Persons.
34,247
Per cent of total illiteracy
*$%
2.1%
I8#
6 As has before been noted, the Negroes are less apt to deceive deliber
ately than some other peoples. The ability to read, however, is a point
of pride with them, and especial pains was taken in the canvass to avoid
error; often two or more questions on the point were asked. Nevertheless
all depended in the main on voluntary answers.
7 This looks small and yet it probably approximates the truth, My
general impression from talking with several thousand Negroes in the
Seventh Ward is that the percentage of total illiteracy is small among
them.
Education and Illiteracy. [Chap. VIIL
Separating those in the Seventh Ward by sex, we have
this table, showing a total illiteracy of 10 per cent among
the males and 17 per cent among the females :
BY SEX AND BY AGE PERIODS. SEVENTH WARD.
Males.
Females.
>>
d
^
>*&
p
^
Sex Ages.
cd
Irt'tf-^
d
??
o
rt
^"dii
ye
o
ty o d
5
fl W
a
^ S u
=jy
j;
**
M
*!
a
D
H
*-.
^3
M
a
P
Youth, 10 to 20 years .
Post-bellum men,
550
5H
10
13
13
792
730
16
38
8
(born since 1865),
21 to 30 years ....
1,396
1,229
45
61
61
1,492
Il283
55
116
38
Men of war time
(born between 1855
and 1866), 31 to 40
years
978
784
40
ill
43
1,032
697
84
211
40
Freedmen (born be
fore 1856), over 40
887
I2O
625
12
63
i
181
3
18
104
'116
558
24
136
2
381
4
26
86
Of unknown age . .
Total
3,931
3,164 | 159
369
230
4.533
3,292 1 2Q3
750
198
Granting that those reporting themselves as able to read
should in most cases be included under the illiterate, and
that therefore the rate of illiteracy in the Seventh Ward is
about 1 8 per cent, and perhaps 20 per cent for the city,
nevertheless the rate is, all things considered, low and
places the Philadelphia Negroes in a position not much
worse than that of the total population of Belgium (15.9
per cent), so far as actual illiterates are concerned. 8
8 The Seventh Special Report of the United States Commissioner of
Ivabor enables us to make some comparison of the illiteracy of the foreign
and Negro populations of the City:
Nationalities.
Italians, 1894 . . .
Russians, 1894 . .
Poles, 1894 ....
Hungarians, 1894
Irish, 1894 ....
Negroes, 7th W., 1896
Germans, 1894 . .
Persons able to
Read and Write.
1396
1128
838
6893
36.37 p. c,
58.08 "
59-73 "
69.16 "
74.21 "
81.44 "
85.26
Illiterates.
2442
814
565
140
1 88
i57i
78
63.63 p.c.
41.92
40.27
30.84
25.79
18.56
14.74
Comparison of
Illiteracy.
The foreigners here reported include all those living in certain parts of
the Third and Fourth Wards of Philadelphia. They are largely recent
immigrants. The Russians and Poles are mostly Jews. ISABEL BATON.
Sect. 20.] The Present Condition. 93
The degree of education of those who can read and write
can only be indicated in general terms. The majority
have only a partial common school education from the
country schools of the South or the primary grades of the
city ; a considerable number have taken grammar school
work ; a very few have entered the high schools and there
have been from fifty to one hundred graduates from col
leges and professional schools since the war. Exact figures
as to the proportion of students taking higher courses are
not easily obtained.
In the Catto School, 1867-96, n per cent of those enter
ing the primary grade were promoted to the grammar
school ; less than i per cent of those entering the primary
grade of the Vaux School were promoted to the High
School. Of those graduating from the course at the Insti
tute for Colored Youth, 8 per cent have taken a college or
professional course. 9 Thus it appears that of 1000 colored
children entering the primary grade no go to the gram
mar school, ten to the high school and one to college or
to a professional school. The basis of induction here is,
however, too small for many conclusions. 10
At present there are in the Seventh Ward thirteen schools
for children of all races and sixty-four teachers, with school
property valued at $214,382. The schools are : one com
bined grammar and secondary, three secondary, one com
bined secondary and primary, four primary and four
kindergartens.
In the city the following are the public schools chiefly
attended by Negroes :
9 Data furnished by two principals of colored schools. At present
(1897) there are 58 Negro students in the following schools: Central
High, Girls' Normal, Girls' High, Central Manual Training and North
East Manual Training; or about one per cent of the total school enroll
ment.
10 probably the percentage of children promoted from primary to
grammar grades in this case is unusually small.
94
Education and Illiteracy. [Chap. VIII.
Coulter street, Twenty-second Section .
J. 33. Hill, Germantown 84
Robert Vaux, Wood street 67
O. V. Catto, Lombard street 140
Wilmot, Meadow and Cherry streets . . 48
James Miller, Forty-second and Ludlowsts., 24
J. S. Ramsey, Quince and Pine streets . . 243
45 boys, 39 girls, all colored.
89 " "
74 "
150 "
47 "
13 "
253
nearly all
colored.
All the teachers are colored except those in the Ramsey
and Miller schools, who are all white. There are a few
colored kindergarten teachers in various sections, and large
numbers of colored children go to other schools beside
those designated. Many of the colored schools have a high
reputation for efficient work. 11 There is, theoretically,
no discrimination in night schools and some Negroes
go to white schools ; for the most part, however, the
Negroes are in the following night schools :
PHILADELPHIA COLORED NIGHT SCHOOLS, 1895.
Name of School.
"SbO
v q .
IP
.^
Q4J
<S
No. Registered
at I^nd
of Term.
Average
Attendance.
Average per
Cent Present
during Term.
Pupils under
15 Years.
Pupils
15-20 Years.
en
w d
1>
fif
Pupils
30-40 Years.
Pupils
40-50 Years.
Pupils j
over 50 Years. |
&
<
1
<
O. V Catto ,
60
*75
60
64
17
Vaux
18
71
25
59
I
12
16
5
27
<?6
Park Avenue ....
J. E. Hill . . .
35
3
95
112
5i
40
62
64
14
34
47
40
,*o
3
9
4
g
21
West Philadelphia .
Coulter street . . .
50
48
&
38
47
49
68
3
5
14
48
39
24
32
II
6
o
27
20
Total night schools
of city- white and
colored
8957
2208
8352
67
6172
11,963
2844
625
183
44
18
11 The following report from a member of the Committee on Schools of
the City Councils is taken from the Philadelphia Ledger, December 2,
1896: On the matter of the needs of the colored population in connection
with the schools, Mr. Meehan had to say: " Young women of the colored
race are qualifying themselves for public school teachers by taking the
regular course through our Normal School. No matter how well
qualified they may be to teach, directors do not elect them to positions in
the schools. It is taken for granted that only white teachers shall be
placed in charge of white children. The colored Normal School grad
uates might be given a chance by appointments in the centre of some
colored population, so that colored people might support their own
teachers if so disposed, as they support their own ministers in their
Sect 20.] The Present Condition. 95
The Institute for Colored Youth is still a popular and
useful institution. It gives grammar and high school
courses. In 1890, by the efforts of both white and colored
friends, 12 an industrial department, with eleven teachers,
was added. Among the men trained here are Octavius V.
Catto, Jacob C. White, Jr., who was for thirty-five years
principal of the Vaux School, two ex-ministers from the
United States to Haiti, and the young colored physician
who recently broke twenty-five years record in the excel
lence of his examination before the State Board. Under
Mr. White, mentioned above, Mr. Henry Tanner, the artist
recently honored by the French government, was graduated
from the Vaux School.
Considering this testimony as a whole, it seems certain
that the Negro problem in Philadelphia is no longer, in the
main, a problem of sheer ignorance ; to be sure, there is
still a very large totally illiterate class of perhaps 6000
persons over ten years of age ; then, too, the other 24,000
are not in any sense of the word educated as a mass ; most
of them can read and write fairly well, but few have a
training beyond this. The leading classes among them are
mostly grammar school graduates, and a college bred person
is very exceptional. Thus the problem of education is
still large and pressing ; and yet considering their ignorance
in the light of history and present experience, it must be
acknowledged that there are other social problems con
nected with this people more pressing than that of educa
tion ; that a fair degree of persistence in present methods
will settle in time the question of ignorance, but other
social questions are by no means so near solution.
The only difficulties in the matter of education are care
lessness in school attendance, and poverty which keeps
separate colored churches. The good result of this arrangement is
shown by the experience in the Twenty-second Section, where there are
two schools with seven colored teachers, ranking among the most
popular in the section."
12 Negroes in the city raised $2000 toward this.
96 Education and Illiteracy. [Chap. VIII
children out of school. The former is a matter for the
colored people to settle themselves, and is one to which
their attention needs to be called. While much has been
done, yet it cannot be said that Negroes have fully grasped
their great school advantages in the city by keeping their
younger children regularly in school, and from this retniss-
ness much harm has sprung.
CHAPTER IX.
THE OCCUPATIONS OF NEGROES.
21. The Question of Earning a Living. For a group
of freedmen the question of economic survival is the most
pressing of all questions ; the problem as to how, under
the circumstances of modern life, any group of people can
earn a decent living, so as to maintain their standard of
life, is not always easy to answer. But when the question
is complicated by the fact that the group has a low degree
of efficiency on account of previous training ; is in com
petition with well-trained, eager and often ruthless com
petitors ; is more or less handicapped by a somewhat
indefinite but existent and wide-reaching discrimination ;
and, finally, is seeking not merely to maintain a standard
of living but steadily to raise it to a higher plane such a
situation presents baffling problems to the sociologist and
philanthropist.
And yet this is the situation of the Negro in Philadel
phia ; he is trying to better his condition ; is seeking to
rise ; for this end his first need is work of a character to
engage his best talents, and remunerative enough for him
to support a home and train up his children well. The
competition in a large city is fierce, and it is difficult for
any poor people to succeed. The Negro, however, has two
especial difficulties : his training as a slave and freedman
has not been such as make the average of the race as
efficient and reliable workmen as the average native Amer
ican or as many foreign immigrants. The Negro is, as a
rule, willing, honest and good-natured ; but he is also, as
a rule, careless, unreliable and unsteady. This is without
doubt to be expected in a people who for generations have
(97)
g8 The Ocatpations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.
been trained to shirk work ; but an historical excuse
counts for little in the whirl and battle of bread-winning.
Of course, there are large exceptions to this average rule;
there are many Negroes who are as bright, talented and
reliable as any class of workmen, and who in untrammeled
competition would soon rise high in the economic scale,
and thus by the law of the survival of the fittest we should
Soon have left at the bottom those inefficient and lazy
drones who did not deserve a better fate. However, in the
realm of social phenomena the law of survival is greatly
modified by human choice, wish, whim and prejudice.
And consequently one never knows when one sees a social
outcast how far this failure to survive is due to the defi
ciencies of the individual, and how far to the accidents or
injustice of his environment. This is especially the case
with the Negro. Every one knows that in a city like
Philadelphia a Negro does not have the same chance to
exercise his ability or secure work according to his talents
as a white man. Just how far this is so we shall discuss
later ; now it is sufficient to say in general that the sorts
of work open to Negroes are not only restricted by their
own lack of training but also by discrimination against
them on account of their race ; that their economic rise is
not only hindered by their present poverty, but also by a
widespread inclination to shut against them many doors of
advancement open to the talented and efficient of other
races.
What has thus far been the result of this complicated
situation ? What do the mass of the Negroes of the city
at present do for a living, and how successful are they in
those lines? And in so far as they are successful, what
have they accomplished, and where they are inefficient in
their present sphere of work, what is the cause and rem
edy ? These are the questions before us, and we proceed
to answer the first in this chapter, taking the occupations
of the Negroes of the Seventh Ward first, then of the city
Sect. 22.] Occupations in the Seventh Ward. 99
in a general way, and finally saying a word as to the
past.
22. Occupations in the Seventh 'Ward. Of the 257
boys between the ages of ten and twenty, who were regu
larly at work in 1896, 39 per cent were porters and errand
boys ; 25.5 per cent were servants ; 16 per cent were common
laborers, and 19 per cent had miscellaneous employment.
The occupations in detail are as follows : l
Total population, males 10 to 20 . . . .651
Engaged in gainful occupations .... 257
Porters and errand boys 100 39.0 per cent.
Servants 66 25.5 "
Common laborers 40 16.0 "
Teamsters 7
Apprentices 6
Bootblacks 6
Drivers 5
Newsboys 5
Peddlers 4
Typesetters 3
Actors 2
Bricklayers 2
Hostlers 2
Typewriters 2
Barber, bartender, bookbinder, factory
hand, rubber-worker, sailor, shoe
maker one each 7
51 19-5
257 ico per cent.
1 The returns as to occupations are on the whole reliable. There was
in the first place little room for deception, since the occupations of
Negroes are so limited that a false or indefinite answer was easily
revealed by a little judicious probing; moreover there was little disposi
tion to deceive, for the Negroes are very anxious to have their limited
opportunities for employment known; thus the motives of pride and
complaint balanced each other fairly well. Some error of course
remains: the number of servants and day workers is slightly under
stated; the number of caterers and men with trades is somewhat
exaggerated by the answers of men with two occupations: e.g.,* waiter
with a small side business of catering returns himself as caterer; a
carpenter who gets little work and makes his living largely as a laborer
is sometimes returned as a carpenter, etc. In the main the errors are
small and of little consequence.
ioo The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.
Of the men twenty-one years of age and over, there were
in gainful occupations, the following :
In the learned professions 61 2.0 per cent.
Conducting business on their own ac
count 207 6.5 "
In the skilled trades 236 7.0 "
Clerks, etc 159 5o <f
Laborers, better class 602
Laborers, common class 852
1454 45.0
Servants 1079 34.0 "
Miscellaneous n .5 u
3207 ioo per cent.
Total male population, 21 and over sSso. 8
2 A more detailed list of the occupations of male Negroes, twenty-one
years of age and over, living in the Seventh Ward in 1896, is as follows:
Entrepreneurs.
Caterers 65 Employment Agents . . . . 3
Hucksters 37 Lodging House Keepers ... 3
Proprietors Hotels and Restau- Proprietors of Pool Rooms . . 3
rants 22 Real Estate Agencies 3
Merchants: Fuel and Notions 22 Job Printers 3
Proprietors of Barber Shops . . 15 Builder and Contractor , ... j
Expressmen owning outfit . . 14 Sub-landlord i
Merchants, Cigar Stores ... 7 Milk Dealer I
Merchants, Grocery Stores . . 4 Publisher , i
Proprietors of Undertaking Es-
tablishments 2 207
In Learned Professions,
Clergymen .22 Dentists 3
Students 17 Editors i
Teachers 7
Physicians . . , 6 61
Lawyers 5
In the Skilled Irades.
Barbers 64 Apprentice i
Cigar Makers 39 Boilermaker I
Shoemakers 18 Blacksmith i
Stationary Engineers 13 China Repairer ........ i
Bricklayers n Cooper . . . , 4 i
Printers 10 Cabinetmaker i
Sect. 22.] Occupations in the Seventh Ward.
101
This shows that three-fourths of the male Negroes ten
years of age and over in gainful occupations are laborers
and servants, while the remaining fourth is equally divided
into three parts : one to the trades, one to small business
Painters , . , 10
Upholsterers 7
Carpenters 6
Bakers 4
Tailors 4
Undertakers 4
Brickmakers 3
Framemakers 3
Plasterers 3
Rubber Workers 3
Stone Cutters 3
Bookbinders 2
Candy Makers 2
Chiropodists 2
Ice Carvers 2
Photographers 2
Dyer i
Furniture Polisher i
Gold Beater i
Kalsominer I
Locksmith
Laundryman (steam)
Paper Hanger
Roofer
Tinsmith
Wicker Worker
Horse Trainer
Chemist
Florist . i
Pilot i
236
Clerks^ Semi-Professional and Responsible Workers.
Messengers 33
Stewards 31
Musicians 20
Clerks 18
Agents 15
Clerks in Public Service ... 8
Managers and Foremen .... 6
Actors 6
Bartenders 5
Servants.
Domestics 582 Nurses .
Hotel Help 457
Public Waiters 3 8
Laborers (Select Class}.
Policemen 5
Sextons 4
Shipping Clerks 3
Dancing Masters 3
Inspector in Factory . , . . i
Cashier i
159
. 2
1079
164 China Packers 14
Stevedores
Teamsters *34
Janitors 94 Drivers . . .
Hod Carriers 79 Oyster Openers
Hostlers 44
Elevator Men 22
Sailors 21
Watchmen 14
12
..... 4
602
IO2
The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX*
enterprises, and one to professional men, clerks and miscel
laneous employments.
Turning now to the females, ten to twenty years of age,
we have :
Housewives ............. 38 4.5 per cent.
At work 3 .............. 289 36.5 "
At school ............. 333 42.0 "
At home, unoccupied, etc ....... 133 17.0 "
Total female population 10-20 . . . 793 100 per cent.
Of the 289 at work there were :
In domestic service ......... 211 73.0 per cent.
Doing day's work .......... 32 n.o "
Dressmakers and seamstresses ..... 16 5.5 "
Servants in public places ...... 12 4.3 "
Apprentices ..... * ..... 6
Musicians ............ 4
Teachers ............. 3
Clerks .............. 2
Actresses ............. 2
Hairdressers ........... i
18 6.2
289 100 per cent.
Taking the occupations of women twenty-one years of
age and over, we have :
Domestic servants .......... 1262
Housewives and day laborers .... 937
Housewives ............. 568
Day laborers, maids, etc ....... 297
37.0 per cent.
27.0 "
17.0 "
9.0 "
Laborers (Ordinary).
Common Laborers ...... 493 Casual Laborers ....... 12
Porters ........... 274 Miscellaneous Laborers .... 4
Laborers for City ...... 47 _
Bootblacks ......... 22 852
Miscellaneous.
Rag Pickers ......... 6 Prize Fighter ........ I
"Politicians" ... ..... 2 _
Root Doctors - ....... 2 u
8 This includes 12 housewives who also work.
Sect. 22.] Occupations in the Seventh Ward. 103
In skilled trades . . . . 221 6.0 per cent.
Conducting businesses 63 2.0 "
Clerks, etc 40 i. o "
Learned professions 37 i.o "
3425 100 per cent.
Total female population 21 and over 3740. *
Leaving out housewives who do no outside work and
scheduling all women over twenty-one who have gainful
occupations, we have :
4 A more detailed list of the occupations of female Negroes, twenty-one
years of age and over, living in the Seventh Ward in 1896, is as follows :
Entrepreneurs.
Caterers 18 Undertakers 3
Restaurant Keepers 17 Child-Nursery Keepers .... 3
Merchants 17
Employment Agents 5 63
Learned Professions.
Teachers 22 Students 7
Trained Nurses 8
37
Skilled Trades.
Dressmakers 204 Manicure i
Hairdressers 6 Barber I
Milliners 3 Typesetter i
Shrouders of Dead 4
Apprentice i 221
Clerks^ Semi-Professional and Responsible Workers.
Musicians 12 Matrons 2
Clerks 10 Actress i
Stewardesses 4 Missionary I
Housekeepers 4
Agents 3 4
Stenographers 3
Laborers, etc.
Housewives and Day Workers . 937 Janitresses 22
Day Workers 128 Factory Employe I
Public Cooks 72 Office Maids 12
Seamstresses 48
Waitresses in Restaurants, etc. 14 1234
Servants.
Domestic Servants 1262
104
The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.
Professions 37
Working on own account 63
In trades 221
Clerks and agents, etc. 40
Day workers, janitresses, seamstresses, cooks, etc 1234
Servants 1262
2857
The following tables gather up all these statistics and
give full returns with distinctions of age and sex :
OCCUPATIONS FEMALES, TEN YEARS OF AGE AND OVER. SEVENTH WARD, 1896.
Occupations.
o Years.
i Years.
e
tn
c5
fe'
at
t
0}
8
rt
B
rt
s
rt
19 Years.
20 Years.
21-30 Years.
31-40 Years.
Over 40 Years.
Unknown
Age.
Total.
a
OJ
I*
H
Qp
S-o
rt c
8*
>
>
ro
!*
fr
?
1/5
!*
VO
r
l-N
i*
00
At school
52
5
55
3
56
5
I
55
3
3
36
9
7
o
"o
24
16
I
II
?6
I
I
22
o
o
19
23
3
I
28
4
I
2
I
2
4
22
4
I
6
33
I
I
I
2
4
I
I
13
II
4
5
43
I
2
I
2
I
3
I
I
2
2
8
19
5
4
I
I
I
I
I
5
3
I
2
1
3
5
I
I
335
7
At home .
Housewives
Housewives and day
workers
Day workers ......
Domestic service
246
255
54
66 1
7
12
3
17
5
23
78
12
6
5
I
3
3
2
I
1
I
I
51
128
329
24
347
I
7
I
J
6
I
12
68
6
4
8
I
I
8
2
I
I
2
3
I
I
I
2
I
3
I
2
26
187
344
46
240
8
o
4
27
I
5
13
57
4
4
I
2
4
o
I
2
4
2
I
2
2
2
I
II
7
9
4
14
I
I
I
I
12
38
12
20
211
6
I
5
2
4
4
I
6
10
2
3
2
8
568
937
128
1262
I
22
14
12
72
12
6
48
204
I
22
10
17
3
8
3
18
4
3
I
2
r
2
4
7
3
I
I
3
4
I
5
2
3
100
Apprentice to trade . . .
Tanitresses .
Public waitresses ....
Office and public maids .
Public cooks , . .
Musicians
Hairdressers
Seamstresses
Dressmakers
Actress
Teachers
Clerks
Restaurant keepers . . .
Milliners
Nursery keepers
Trained nurses
Agents (beneficial soc.) .
Cater esses
Shrouders of dead ....
Stenographers . . .
Factory employee ....
Matron (of Home) ....
Manicure.
M erchants Cigar store .
Groceries . .
Notions, etc.
Fuel ....
Hardware. .
Barber
Undertakers
Stewardesses
Missionary
Prop. Employment Ag.
Typesetters
Housekeepers ....
Prostitutes
Sect. 22.] Occupations in the Seventh Ward. 105
OCCUPATIONS MAI,ES, TEN TO TWENTY-ONE YEARS OF AGE.
SEVENTH WARD, 1896.
Occupations.
10 Years
ii Years
12 Years
13 Years
14 Years
J
10
16 Years
17 Years
18 Years.
19 Years
20 Years
1
Total boys at Riven age
Total in school
49
44
39
45
Q
i
45
c
39
22
53
ox
5
55
A
56
2
67
o
31
Total at home
c
I
I
2
J I
Q
2
$
Actors . . .
O
J
i
2
Apprentices to trades
o
o
o
o
j
I
i
6
o
o
o
o
o
o
I
o
i
Bartender
o
o
o
o
j
o
i
Bookbinder .
o
J
O
i
Bootblacks .
o
o
o
o
I
I
2
I
I
o
6
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
2
o
2
Drivers for Doctors
o
o
o
o
I
I
5.
o
o
2
2
4
2
fi
6
5
I
2
33
Factory laborer
o
o
o
O
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
I
o
o
I
I
o
i
2
laborers
o
I
I
3
12
12
II
40
Peddlers
o
o
o
o
o
o
I
I
I
I
5
4
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
I
I
I
3
o
I
o
X
4
5
IO
15
IT
70
67
Rubber worker . . .
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
I
I
Sailor
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
I
o
O
o
i
Service (domestic) . ...
o
o
I
2
o
o
i
II
7
7
Tfi
47
Service (public)
o
o
o
o
o
I
I
I
3
5
a
19
Shoemakers . ...
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
X
i
o
o
o
o
I
X
?
2
7
Typewriters
o
o
o
O
o
I
i
O
2
OCCUPATIONS MALES, TWENTY-ONE YEARS AND OVER.
SEVENTH WARD, 1896.
Occupations.
21-30
Years.
31-40
Years.
41 and
over.
Unk.
Age.
Total.
Actors
4
6
I
2
3
6
. .
6
15
i
64
5
43
2
22
II
3
i
4
I
i
2
I
I
I
I
5
I
Agents (ins. societies and drummers)
28
2
32
I
15
21
3
10
I
6
7
15
I
i
4
i
-
Bootblacks
2
I
i
i
3
T
I
I
2
*
i
I
i
i
2
I
I
io6
The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.
OCCUPATIONS Continued.
Occupations.
21-30
Years.
31-40
Years.
41 and
over.
Uuk.
Age.
Total.
I
I
II
I
17
7
3
I
I
18
'36
I
2
65
I
39
18
8
3
i
2
3
12
I
2
13
22
I
I
3
i
i
16
37
44
79
i
2
94
i
3
i
i
12
2
2
7
32
37
410
3
47
2
6
33
20
i
2
4
14
IO
23
74
Candy-makers . .
Caterers . . ... ...
Cliemist ...
Ci.gar-mak.ers ..... ...
17
4
I
2
I
2
2
I
4
7
4
i
I
2
I
I
Clerks ... ...
Clerks (in public service)
Clerks (shipping)
Conductor (railroad)*. .
Dairymen
Dancing-masters
I
10
Drivers (for doctor)
Dyer ...
Errand boys
2
7
16
i
4
5
Engineers (stationary)
Elevator men .....
Editor . . .
Florist
i
I
1
I
IO
II
2 9
45
i
3
i
7
7
4
1 20
' 2*8
i
i
12
3
i
5
3
8
21
I
2
Frame-makers
2
I
Gold beater . . . .
Gamblers
4
12
21
27
3
15
12
23
I
I
20
Hostlers
Hod carriers . .
Inspector of furniture
Ice carvers . . . ...
I
29
Janitors .....
Kalsominer ... ... . .
Ivodging-house keepers
landlord . .
Locksmith .
I
4
4
7
10
120
I
9
I
2
10
7
Laborers (casual)
I
2
2
3
19
33
149
2
9
3
9
10
(soap factory)
(furnace-setters)
(on buildings) ... ...
( brick vard)
(on streets)
(general)
(farm) .... . . .
(water works and gas, etc.) .
L/aundrymen . ...
Managers and foremen
Messengers
Musicians . . ...
Manufacturers ...
Nurses
I
2
5
3
3
135
i
2
4
4
Oyster openers
Packers (china)
Painters
Paper-hanger . . ,
Porters ...
77
60
2
* Intermarried white man.
Sect. 22.] Occupations in the Seventh Ward.
107
OCCUPATIONS Continued.
Occupations.
21-30
Years.
31-40
Years.
41 and
over.
Unk.
Age.
Total.
Politicians .,
X
I
2
Photographers
I
I
2
Plasterers
i
3
Printers .
6
I
2
O
Proprietors Hotels and restaurants .
Bxpress business . . .
Printing office . - -
6
3
6
4
I
10
7
22
14
4
Cigar store
I
6
7
i
i
Store, notions and fuel,
Grocery . . . .
3
I
9
i
10
2
22
4
Bmployment agency . .
I
i
I
IO
3
15
Newspaper . .
i
i
2
I
3
i
7
2
2
I
5
A
8
IO
22
Physicians . . ...
2
I
I
6
i
2
3
5
5
pilot . . '
I
i
i
i
2
I
3
I
i
2
4
6
Real estate agents . .......
I
2
3
Root doctors
I
I
2
288
161
123
10
582
Hotel and restaurants, etc, .
Public waiters (with caterers)
205
126
15
14
72
13
9
II
I
414
38
3i
Students
13
4
.
17
14
3
3
I
21
I
i
2
.
4
4
i
13
18
64
60
40
164
i
I
3
i
.
i
i
I
I
3
, ,
4
63
3
3 2
I
134
2
I
4
7
4
I
i
6
I
4
9
14
i
i
L,et us now glance at the occupations as a whole : of the
9675 Negroes in the Seventh Ward, 1212 are children nine
years of age or less. Of the remaining 8463 there are :
io8
The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.
At work 6,6ro
In school 609
Housewives 568
Known criminals 1 16
Unoccupied, at home, defective, unknown, etc 560
8,463
Tlie 6610 at work are distributed as follows :
Professions 101
Working on own account 268
In trades 492
Clerks, semi-professional and responsible workers .... 216
Laborers (select) 778
Laborers (ordinary) 2,111
Servants 2,644
6,610
We can grasp the true meaning of these figures only by
comparing the distribution of occupations among the
Negroes with that of the total population of the city ; for
this purpose we must redistribute the occupations accord
ing to the simpler, but in many respects unsatisfactory,
divisions of the United States census. We then have :
Total population over TO . . . .
Number in gainful occupations .
Per cent in gainful occupations .
Whole Population
of Philadelphia,
1890.
Number.
847,283
466,791
55-1
Negroes of
Seventh Ward,
1896.
Number.
8,463
6,611
78
Per
Cent.
Engaged in agriculture
Engaged in professional service . . .
Engaged in domestic and personal
service
Engaged in trade and transportation
Engaged in manufacturing and me
chanical industries
6,497
19,438
106,129
115,462
219*265
1.5
4-2
22.7
24.7
46.9
ii
130*
4,889
1, 006
541
.2
2.0
74-3
15-3
8.2
*Omitting 24 students 21 years of age and over.
Sect. 22.] Occupations in the Seventh Ward.
Illustrated graphically, this is :
A
109
WHOLE POPULATION
OF PHILA.
NEGROES
OF 7 TR WARD
Comparing the whole population with the Negroes of
the Seventh Ward by sex, we have :
1.9
3.9
173
29.5
47.4
TOTAL MALES
OF ALL COLORS.
MALE NEGROES
7T WARD
mow
iECHANICAL INDUSTRIES
2J5%
61.5%
7.7
4.8
37.9
11.4
45B
TOTAL FEMALES
OF ALL COLORS.
FEMALE NEGROES
7T? WARD
TRA|DE *|TRAN5PORTAT1ON
ECHANICAL INDUSTRIES
In these statistics and tables we have first to notice the
large proportion of these people who work for a living ;
taking the population ten years of age and over, and we
have 78 per cent for the Negroes of the Seventh Ward,
and 55.1 per cent for the whole city, white and colored.
This is an indication of an absence of accumulated wealth,
no
The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.
arising- from poverty and low wages; the general causes of
poverty are largely historical and well known ; to appre
ciate the cause of low wages, we have only to see the
few occupations to which the Negroes are practically
limited, and imagine the competition that must ensue.
This is true among the men, and especially true among
the women, where the limitation is greatest. All the
forces that are impelling white women to become bread
winners, are emphasized in the case of Negro women : their
chances of marriage are decreased by the low wages of the
men and the large excess of their own sex in the great
cities ; they must work, and if there are few chances open
they must suffer from competition in wages. Among the
men low wages means either enforced celibacy or irregular
and often dissipated lives, or homes where the wife and
mother must also be a bread-winner. Statistics curiously
illustrate this ; 16.3 per cent of the native white women
THE WORKING POPULATION OF PHILADELPHIA, 1890.
Color, etc.
Number, Ten Years of Age and
over, in Gainful Occupations.
Per Cent of Total Popu
lation in Gainful
Occupations.
Male.
Female.
Total.
Male.
Female
Total.
Whites.
(Native, with native
narents) . . .
122,332
91,280
13^50
34,731
39,618
9,258
157,063
130,898
22,908
65
58
72
16
24
43
38
40
57
(Native, with foreign
parents)
Colored {Negro and
Chinese, etc.) . .
Total Population .
344,143
122,648
466,791
. . 1 . .
of native parents and of all ages, in Philadelphia are bread
winners ; 5 their occupations are restricted, and there is
great competition ; yet among Negro women, where the
5 A better comparison here would be made by finding the percentages
of the population above 10 years of age ; statistics unfortunately are not
available for this.
Sect. 23.] Occupations in the City. in
restriction in occupation reaches its greatest limit, never
theless 43 per cent are bread-winners, and their wages are
at the lowest point in all cases save in some lines of domes
tic service where custom holds them at certain figures ;
even here, however, the tendency is downward.
The causes of this peculiar restriction in employment of
Negroes are twofold: first, the lack of training and
experience among Negroes ; second, the prejudice of the
whites. The first is to be expected in some degree, although
undoubtedly carelessness and culpable inefficiency have
played their part. The second cause will be discussed at
length, later. One point, however, needs mention : the
peculiar distribution of employments among whites and
Negroes makes the great middle class of white people
seldom, if ever, brought into contact with Negroes may
not this be a cause as well as an effect of prejudice?
Another noticeable fact is the absence of child-labor ;
this is not voluntary on the part of the Negroes, but due to
restricted opportunity ; there is really very little that Negro
children may do. Their chief employment, therefore, is
found in helping about the house while the mother is at
work. Thus those children scheduled as at home repre
sent child-labor in many cases.
23. Occupations in the City. Turning from the more
detailed study of the Seventh Ward, let us glance in a
general way over the occupations of Negroes in the city at
large.
The Professions. The learned professions are represented
among Negroes by clergymen, teachers, physicians, lawyers
and dentists, in the order named. Practically all Negroes
go to their own churches, where they have, save in a very
few cases, clergymen of their own race. There are not less
than sixty Negro ministers in the city (possibly a hundred)
mostly Methodists and Baptists, with three or four Presby
terians and two Episcopalians. The Presbyterian and
Episcopalian clergymen are well trained and educated men
The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.
in nearly every case. The ministers of the African Metho
dists vary ; those in charge of the larger churches are all men
of striking personality, with genius for leadership and
organization in some lines, and in some cases, though not
in all, they are well-educated men. Practically none of
them are illiterate. The Baptist ministers are not on the
whole so well trained as the Methodists, although some
are well-educated.
Taken on the average the Negro ministers of -the city are
good representatives of the masses of the Negroes. They
are largely chosen by the masses, must cater to their
tastes, and must in every way be men whom the rank and
file of the race like and understand. Sometimes a strong
personality, like the late Theodore Miller, will take a
church and lift it to a high level ; usually the minister
rather follows than leads, and indicates public opinion
among his people rather than forms it The Baptist min
ister is the elected chairman of a pure democracy, who, if
he can command a large enough following, becomes a
virtual dictator ; he thus has the chance to be a wise leader
or a demagogue, or, as in many cases, a little of both. The
Methodist minister is the appointed steward of a large cor
poration, of which his particular church is a small part.
His success depends upon the way in which he conducts
this church : his financial success, his efforts to increase
church membership and his personal popularity. The
result is that the colored Methodist minister is generally a
wide-awake business man, with something of the politician
in his make-up, who is sometimes an inspiring and valuable
leader of men; in other cases he may develop into a loud
but wily talker, who induces the mass of Negroes to put
into fine church edifices money which ought to go to charity
or business enterprise.
Ministers receive from $250 a year, in small missions, to
$1500 in three or four of the largest churches. The aver
age would be between $600 and $1000.
Sect. 23.]
Occupations in the City.
Next to the clergymen come the teachers, of whom there
are about forty in the city :
School.
Princi
pals.
Assistant
Teachers
Kinder-
gartners.
Indus' 1
teachers.
Institute for Colored Youth
2
Q
2
O. V. Catto
I
6
2
Q
Vaux
I
Q
o
J. E. Hill
I
J
Coulter street
j
j
o
Q
Wilmot
j
j
Q
Q
House of Industry ....*..
Q
Q
James Forten
o
o
2
o
Berean Church
o
I
Total
7
25
6
2
These teachers are in nearly every case well equipped
and have made good records. Save in the kindergartens,
or in one or more temporary cases, they teach Negro chil
dren exclusively. The public school teachers receive the
same pay as the white teachers. 6
The Negro physician is to-day just beginning to reap the
reward of a long series of attempts and failures. At first
thought it would seem natural for Negroes to patronize
Negro merchants, lawyers and physicians, from a sense of
pride and as a protest against race feeling among whites.
When, however, we come to think further, we can see
many hindrances. If a child is sick, the father wants a
good physician ; he knows plenty of good white physicians ;
he knows nothing of the skill of the black doctor, for the
black doctor has had no opportunity to exercise his skill.
Consequently for many years the colored physician had
to sit idly by and see the 40,000 Negroes healed principally
by white practitioners. To-day this has largely changed,
and principally through the efforts of the younger class of
doctors, who have spared no pains to equip themselves at
the best schools of the country. The result is that fully
half the Negroes employ Negro physicians, and to a small
extent these physicians practice among the whites. There
6 This has been the case only in comparatively recent times.
Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.
are still many of the old class of root doctors and patent
medicine quacks with a lucrative trade among Negroes. 7
Of reputable Negro physicians there are in the city about
fifteen, graduated as follows :
University of Pennsylvania 5
Hahnemann (Homeopathic) 2
Women's Medical 2
Medico-Chirurgical I
Harvard I
University of Michigan I
Howard 2
14
Seven of these have good-sized practice, running from
$1500 a year to $3000 or more. Five others have practi
cally just commenced to get practice and are doing fairly
well. The other two have outside work and have a limited
practice. There are many medical students in the city, and
this field is the most attractive open to the Negro among
the learned professions.
In contrast to the fair success of the Negro in medicine
is his partial failure in law. There are at present about ten
practicing Negro lawyers in the city, graduated as follows :
Howard 3
University of Pennsylvania 4
Unknown - 3
Two of these are fairly successful practitioners well
versed in law, with some experience, and a small but steady
practice. Three others are with difficulty earning a living
at criminal practice in police cases ; and the rest are
having little or no practice. This failure of most Negro
lawyers is not in all cases due to lack of ability and push
on their part. Its principal cause is that the Negroes furnish
little lucrative law business, and a Negro lawyer will seldom
be employed by whites. Moreover, while the work of a
physician is largely private, depending on individual skill,
7 Negroes also buy immense quantities of patent medicines, etc.
Sect. 23.] Occupations in the City. 115
a lawyer must have co-operation from fellow lawyers and
respect and influence in court ; thus prejudice or discrimi
nation of any kind is especially felt in this profession. For
these reasons Negro lawyers are for the most part confined
to petty criminal practice and seldom get a chance to show
their ability.
There are three Negro dentists, two being graduated
from first-class institutions and enjoying good practice.
On the whole, the professional class of Negroes is cred
itable to the race. The teachers and physicians would bear
comparison with any race ; the ranks of the clergy are
overcrowded and they present all degrees, from excellent
and well-trained spiritual guides to blatant demagogues ;
the lawyers have little chance to show themselves.
The Entrepreneur The number of individual under
takers of business enterprise among Negroes is small but
growing. Let us first take the Seventh Ward alone and
glance over the field. There are in this ward twenty-three
establishments for meals and other entertainment, varying
from a small one-room restaurant to a twenty-room hotel ;
some of these on Lombard and South streets have capacious
dining-rooms with twenty or more tables ; some are little
dark places with two or three dubious looking stands. In
length of establishment they vary : eight had in 1896 been
running a year or less ; four, two years ; two, three years ;
four, from four to eight years. They represent investments
varying from $40 to $1500, and employ beside the pro
prietors between fifty and one hundred persons according
to the season.
There are in the Seventh Ward twenty-three barber
shops varying from two months to forty years in length of
establishment ; eight are from three to five years old, five
over ten years old. They employ beside the proprietors
from twenty to forty journeymen more or less regularly*
A shop represents an investment varying from $50 to '$250
or more. The Negro as a barber is rapidly losing ground
u6 The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.
in the city. It is difficult to say why this has occurred, but
there are several contributory reasons : first the calling was
for so long an almost exclusively Negro calling that it
came in for a degree of the contempt and ridicule poured
on Negroes in general ; it therefore grew very unpopular
among Negroes, and apprentices became very scarce. To
day one would have to look a long time among young and
aspiring Negroes to find one who would willingly become
a barber it smacks perhaps a little too much of domestic
service, and is a thing to fall back upon but not to aspire
to. In the second place the business became unpopular
with Negroes because it compels them to draw a color line.
No first-class Negro barber would dare shave his own
brother in his shop in Philadelphia on account of the color
prejudice. This is peculiarly galling and has led to much
criticism and unpopularity for certain leading barbers
among their own people. These two reasons led to a lack
of interest and enterprise in the business for a long time
and it needed but one movement to hasten the collapse,
that is, competition. The competition of German and
Italian barbers furnished the last and most potent reason
for the withdrawal of the Negro ; they were skilled work
men, while skilled Negro barbers were becoming scarce \
they cut down the customary prices and some of them
found business co-operation and encouragement which
Negroes could not hope for. For these reasons the business
is slipping from the Negro. This is undoubtedly a calamity
and unless the Negro in spite of sentiment awakens in
time he will find a lucrative employment gone and nothing
in its place. Already a white labor union movement is
beginning to crowd the Negro, to ask for legislation which
will strike him most forcibly and in other ways to bring
organized endeavor to bear upon disorganized apathy.
The Seventh Ward has thirteen small Negro grocery
stores. They are mostly new ventures, eight being less
than a year old ; four, one to five years old, and one fifteen
Sect 23.] Occupations in the City. 117
years old. Two are co-operative enterprises but have had
no great success. All of these stores with two or three
exceptions are really experiments and most of them will
soon go to the wall and their places be taken by others.
The six smaller shops represent investments of $25 to
$50 ; two have $50 and $100 invested ; three between $100
and $200, and one from $500 to $1000. The ambition of
the middle class of Negroes lies in this direction and their
endeavors are laudable. In another age of industrial
development they would have already constituted them
selves a growing class of small tradesmen ; but to-day the
department store and stock-company make the competition
too great for people with so little commercial training and
instinct. Nevertheless the number of Negro groceries will
undoubtedly grow considerably in the next decade.
Next come fourteen cigar stores representing a total
investment of $1000 to $1500 mostly in sums of $25, $50
and $100. These stores have been established as follows :
one year or less, six ; two years, four ; three to sixteen years,
four. They sell cigars and tobacco, and daily papers; some
also rent bicycles, or have a boot-blacking stand or pool
room attached. One of the proprietors conducts, beside his
cigar store, three barber shops and a restaurant, and
employs twenty people. Some of these stores are finely
equipped. This business is new for Negroes and growing ;
a few women have ventured into it, and thus in some cases
it furnishes a side occupation for wives.
There are four candy and notion shops established
respectively five months, six months, one year and three
years, and each representing an investment of $10 to $100.
They are in most cases in the hands of women and do a
small business. There are also numberless places for selling
fuel of all kinds, of which about thirteen rise to the dignity
of shops. They represent small investments.
Three retail liquor shops and one bottling establishment
are conducted by colored people, representing considerable
n8 The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX,
investments. Two of the saloons are old and well con
ducted, and financially successful. The other saloon and
the bottling establishment are not very successful.
Four large employment agencies and some smaller ones
are situated in the ward. They conduct lodging houses
and in some cases boarding houses in connection. One
is sixteen years old ; all hire clerks. Their business
is to act as agents for persons desiring servants, and
to guide unemployed persons to situations ; for this
they charge a percentage or fixed sum out of the wages.
They also often serve as homes for unemployed servants,
giving them board and lodging, sometimes on credit.
Their work is thus useful and lucrative when properly
conducted as in two or three establishments. In one
or two others, however, there is some suspicion of unfair
dealing ; servants are attracted from the South by catchy
advertisements and personal letters, only to find themselves
eventually penniless and out of work in a large city. 8
Questionable acquaintanceships are also made at the
agencies at times, which lead to ruin. These agencies
need strict regulation.
There are four undertaking establishments, two of which
are conducted by women. They represent investments of
$iooo-$io,ooo and two of them do a business which proba
bly aggregates $8000 or more annually in each case. They
are all old establishments six to thirty-three years and in
no branch of business, save one, has the Negro evinced so
much push, taste and enterprise. Two of the establish
ments will, in equipment, compare favorably with the
white businesses in the city ; indeed, in fair competition
they have gained the great bulk of Negro and some white
patronage from white competitors.
Three bakeries, established two and three years respect-
8 In Norfolk, Va., I once saw the advertisement on a street sign calling
for colored "clerks, saleswomen, stenographers/' etc., for Northern
cities!
Sect. 23.] Occupations in the City. 119
ively are having moderate success. Six printing offices
established, one, six months, the others four to seven years,
do job work on small presses; two publish weekly papers.
These shops are fairly successful and get considerable work
from the colored people. One dressmaker has a shop with
$150 invested; another runs a dressmaking school.
Four upholsterers have shops, old and well established,
and all do a good business ; in two cases the business
amounts to two to five thousand a year. One sells
antique furniture also.
There are a large number of caterers in the ward eighty-
three 9 in all. Most of these, however, do a small busi
ness, and in some cases have other work also for at least a
part of the year. Of the principal.caterers there are about
ten, of whom the doyen was the late Andrew F. Stevens. 10
These ten caterers do a large business, amounting in some
cases probably to $3000 to $5000 a year. They have a small
co-operative store on Thirteenth street, with a considerable
stock of dishes, and such things as olives, pickles, etc.
This is conducted by a manager and has one hundred or
more members. There is also a caterers' association, which
is really a trades union. Its club room serves as a clearing
house for business and the employment of waiters. This
has been running ten years. The catering business presents
many interesting phases to the economist and sociologist.
Undoubtedly the pre-eminence of Negroes in this business
has declined since the Augustins, Jones and Dorsey passed.
Negro caterers are still prominent, but they do not
by any means dominate the field, as then. The chief
reason for this is the change that has come over American
9 This total includes a large number of men and women who do some
private catering, but for the most part work under other caterers; strictly
a large part of them are waiters rather than caterers.
10 Mr. Stevens died in 1898 he was an honest, reliable, business man
of pleasant address, and universally respected. He was easily the
successor of Dorsey, Jones and Minton in the catering business.
120 The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.
fashionable society in the last twenty-five years, and the
application of large capital to the catering business.
Philadelphia society is no longer a local affair, but receives
its cue as to propriety and fashion from New York, Lon
don and Paris ; consequently the local caterers can no
longer dictate fashion for any single American city ; more
than this, demands have so risen with increasing wealth
that catering establishments like Delmonico's, which would
keep in the front rank, represent a large investment of
capital investments far beyond the power of the local
Negro caterers of Philadelphia. Thus we find a large
business built up by talent and tact, meeting with changed
social conditions ; the business must therefore change too.
It is the old development from the small to the large
industry, from the house-industry to the concentrated
industry, from the private dining room to the palatial hotel.
If the Negro caterers of Philadelphia had been white,
some of them would have been put in charge of a large
hotel, or would have become co-partners in some large
restaurant business, for which capitalists furnished funds,
For such business co-operation, however, the time was not
ripe, and perhaps only a few of the best Negro caterers
would have been capable of entering into it with success.
As it was, the change in fashion and mode of business
changed the methods of the Negro caterers and their
clientele. They began to serve the middle class instead
of the rich and exclusive, their prices had to become more
reasonable, and their efforts to excel had consequently fewer
incentives. Moreover, they now came into sharp competi
tion with a class of small white caterers, who, if they
were worse cooks, were better trained in the tricks of the
trade. Then, too, with this new and large clientele that per
sonal relationship between the caterer and those served was
broken up, and a larger place for color prejudice was made.
It is thus plain that a curious economic revolution in
one industry has gone on during twenty-nine years, not
Sect. 23.] Occupations in the City. 131
unaccompanied by grave social problems. In this case the
Negro has emerged in better condition and has shown more
capacity for hand-to-hand economic encounter than, for
instance, in the barbering business. Yet he has not emerged
unscathed ; in every such battle, when a Negro is fighting
for an economic advantage, there is ever a widespread
feeling among all his neighbors that it is inexpedient to
allow this class to became wealthy or even well-to-do.
Consequently the battle always becomes an Athanasius
contra mundum, where almost unconsciously the whole
countenance and aid of the community is thrown against
the Negro.
The three Negro cemetery companies of the city have
their headquarters in the Seventh Ward. They arose from
the curious prejudice of the whites against allowing
Negroes to be buried near their dead. The companies
hold valuable property and are fairly well conducted. u
There are several expressmen in the ward owning their
own outfits ; one has been established twenty-five years ;
he has three or four wagons and hires four or five men
regularly. There was in 1896 a hardware and furniture
business forty-seven years old, on South street, but the
proprietor, Robert Adger, has since died. 12 There are
11 When tlie caterer Henry Jones died his funeral procession was
actually turned back from the cemetery by the refusal of the authorities
of Mt Moriah Cemetery to allow him interment there; he had before his
death bought and paid for a lot in the cemetery and the Supreme Court
eventually confirmed his title. To-day this absurd prejudice is not so
strong and Negroes own lots in the Episcopal Cemetery of St. James the
Less and in perhaps one other.
12 The following clipping from the Philadelphia Ledger, Novembers,
1896, illustrates a typical life:
" Robert Adger, a colored Abolitionist, died on Saturday, at his home,
835 South street. He was born a slave, in Charleston, S. C., in 1813.
His mother, who was born in New York, went to South Carolina about
1810, with some of her relatives, and while there was detained as a slave.
"When his master died, Mr. Adger, together with his mother and other
members of the family, were sold at auction, but, through the assistance
122
The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.
several bicycle shops, a flourishing milk, butter and egg
store, a china repairing shop, of long standing; a hair goods
store, a rubber goods repairing shop, seventeen years old;
a second-hand stove store and two patent medicine shops.
To test the accuracy of these statistics and to note
changes, a second visit was made in this ward in 1897, with
this result :
NEGRO BUSINESS ESTABLISHMENTS, SEVENTH WARD, 1896-97.
Business.
1896 (Dec.)
1897 (Oct.)
Restaurants
23
2Q
Barber shops .... . . . .
27
OA
Grocery stores ....
11
II
Cigar stores , . ...
IA.
II
Candy and notions
A
2
Shoemaker shops ...
8
T2
Upholsterers ...
4"
liquor saloons
2
Undertakers
4
Newspapers ... . .
2
I
Drug store
o
I
Patent medicine stores ... . .
2
2
Printing offices
4
4
Such small businesses represent the efforts of a class of
poor people to save capital. 1 * They are all alike hindered
by three great drawbacks: First, the Negro never was
trained for business and can get no training now ; it is very
seldom that a Negro boy or girl can on any terms get a
of friends, legal proceedings were instituted, and their release finally
secured. Mr. Adger then came to this city about 1845, and secured a
position as a waiter in the old Merchants* Hotel. Later he was employed
as a nurse, and while working in that capacity, saved enough money to
start in the furniture business on South street, above Eighth, which he
continued to conduct with success until his death. Mr. Adger always
took an active interest in the welfare of the people of his race."
13 One enterprising capitalist hires and sub-rents eight different houses
with, furnished apartments, paying $1944 annually in rent; he has a
bicycle shop which brings in $ 1000 a year for an expen se of about $ 330.
He also owns a barber shop which brings in about $1000 a year; one-half
the gross receipts of this he pays to a foreman, who pays his journeymen
barbers; the owner pays foj rent and material. " If I had an education/'
he said, " I could get on better."
Sect. 23.] Occupations in the City.
position in a store or other business establishment where
he can learn the technique of the work or general business
methods. Second, Negro merchants are so rare that it is
natural for customers, both white and colored, to take it for
granted that their business is poorly conducted without
giving it a trial. 14 Third, the Negroes are unused to
co-operation with their own people and the process of
learning it is long and tedious. Hitherto, their economic
activities have been directed almost entirely to the satis
faction of wants of the upper classes of white people, and,
too, of personal and household wants ; they are just begin-
ing to realize that within their own group there is a vast
field for development in economic activity. The 40,000
Negroes of Philadelphia need food, clothes, shoes, hats and
furniture; these by proper thrift they see ought to be in part
supplied by themselves, and the little business ventures we
have noticed are attempts in this direction. These
attempts would, however, be vastly more successful in
another economic age. To-day, as before noted, the appli
cation of large capital to the retail business, the gathering
of workmen into factories, the wonderful success of trained
talent in catering to the whims and taste of customers
almost precludes the effective competition of the small
store. Thus the economic condition of the day militates
largely against the Negro ; it requires more skill and ex
perience to run a small store than formerly and the large
store and factory are virtually closed to him on any terms.
Turning now to the other wards of the city let us notice
some of the chief business ventures of the Negroes. This
list is by no means exhaustive, but it is representative :
14 Several storekeepers have had white persons enter the store, look at
the proprietors and say " Oh ! I er made a mistake," and go out.
124
The Occupations of Negroes. [ Chap. IX.
Ward.
Character of Business.
No. Estab
lishments.
Second. Harness shop
Third. Grocery stores 3
Barber shop i
Fourth. Barbershops 5
Second-hand clothing i
Second-hand furniture i
Coal and wood shops 4
Newspaper i
Restaurants | 10
Hair goods and dressmaking I
Expressmen ^ 5
Decorating and paper-hanging i
Job printer i
Shoe repair shops 3
Candy store (manufacture) I
Cigar stores . 2
Crockery store I i
Second-hand stoves ! i
Fifth. Barber shops j 7
Pool-room j i
Shoeblacking shop j r
Restaurants j 8
Undertaker I
Fuel and notions 2
Cigar store x
Publishing house (books and papers) - | I
Blacksmith and wheelwright I
Eighth. Florist i
Watch repairer
Newspaper and job printing ........ | i
Undertaker ! I
Hotel and liquor saloon j i
Barber shops j 9
Upholsterers i 2
Rag warehouse i
Restaurants 5
Fuel and newspaper shop I
Grocery store ! I
Cigar stores j 2
Employment bureau j i
Hair dresser for ladies I
Fourteenth. Barber j i
Grocery store i i
Upholsterer j i
Dealer in mineral water i
Second-hand furniture store ..... ...j i
Fuel and candy store | i
Restaurants ! 2
Twentieth. Tailor shop i
Shoe-repairing shop i
Barbershops ' 2
Sect. 23.]
Occupations in the City.
Ward.
Character of Business.
No.
lishments.
Twenty- Real estate agent i
seventh. Meat dealer (wholesale) I
Fifteenth Carpet cleaning works i
and Meat and provisions i
Twenty-ninth. Barber shops and various small establishments 20
Twenty-sixth Second-hand stoves i
and Cigar store I
Thirtieth. Barber shops 2
Expressman j
Second-hand furniture . i
Upholsterer i
Grocery store I
Milk and ice shop I
Job printing i
Restaurant i
Twenty-second. Restaurant and lodging house i
Grocery stores 2
Barbers 2
Upholsterer i
Expressman i
Steam laundry i i
The most important omissions here are barber shops, on
account of the large number, caterers, because their head
quarters are mainly in private houses, and many small
stores which are easily overlooked and which quickly come
and disappear. Some of the businesses are large and im
portant : Three or four caterers do a business of several
thousand dollars per year ; the well-known Chestnut street
florist does a flourishing and well conducted business ; 15
the undertaker in the Eighth Ward and the real estate
dealer in the Twenty-seventh are unusually successful in
their lines. The crockery store in the Fourth Ward is
neat and tasty. The three largest enterprises are the pro
vision and wholesale meat businesses in the Fifteenth Ward,
and the carpet cleaning works. It is reported that the
business of each of these approaches $10,000 a year.
15 Here was a case where some persons sought to drive an enterprising
and talented Negro out of business simply because he was colored. A
Chestnut street property owner made a special effort to give him a start
and now he conducts a business of which no merchant need be ashamed.
126 The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.
There are five weekly newspapers and a quarterly maga
zine published in the city by Negroes. Two of the papers
are denominational organs for churches ; another paper is
the official organ of the Odd Fellows ; the fourth and fifth
are local news sheets. The quarterly is published by the
A. M. E. Church. These papers are fairly successful, and
are considerably read and reflect the general public opinion
pretty well. Most of them have been very weak editorially,
though there are some signs of improvement, especially in
the case of the quarterly. The publishing house does a
business of $15,000 a year.
The Trades, The practical exclusion of the Negro
from the trades and industries of a great city like Phila
delphia is a situation by no means easy to explain. It is
often said simply: the foreigners and trades unions have
crowded Negroes out on account of race prejudice and left
employers and philanthropists helpless in the matter. This
is not strictly true. What the trades unions and white
workmen have done is to seize an economic advantage
plainly offered them. This opportunity arose from three
causes : Here was a mass of black workmen of whom
very few were by previous training fitted to become the
mechanics and artisans of a new industrial development ;
here, too, were an increasing mass of foreigners and native
Americans who were unusually well fitted to take part in
the new industries ; finally, most people were willing and
many eager that Negroes should be kept as menial servants
rather than develop into industrial factors. This was
the situation, and here was the opportunity for the white
workmen ; they were by previous training better workmen
on the average than Negroes; they were stronger numer
ically and the result was that every new industrial enter
prise started in the city took white workmen. Soon the
white workmen were strong enough to go a step further
than this and practically prohibit Negroes from entering
trades under any circumstances ; this affected not only new
Sect. 23.] Occupations in the City. 127
enterprises, but also old trades like carpentering, masonry,
plastering and the like. The supply of Negroes for such
trades could not keep pace with the extraordinary growth
of the city and a large number of white workmen entered
the field. They immediately combined against Negroes
primarily to raise wages ; the standard of living of the
Negroes lets them accept low wages, and, conversely, long
necessity of accepting the meagre wages offered have made
a low standard of living. Thus partially by taking
advantage of race prejudice, partially by greater economic
efficiency and partially by the endeavor to maintain and
raise wages, white workmen have not only monopolized
the new industrial opportunities of an age which has
transformed Philadelphia from a colonial town to a world-
city, but have also been enabled to take from the Negro
workman the opportunities he already enjoyed in certain
lines of work.
If now a benevolent despot had seen the development,
he would immediately have sought to remedy the real
weakness of the Negro's position, i. <?., his lack of train
ing; and he would have swept away any discrimination
that compelled men to support as criminals those who
might support themselves as workmen.
He would have made special effort to train Negro boys
for industrial life and given them a chance to compete on
equal terms with the best white workmen ; arguing that
in the long run this would be best for all concerned, since
by raising the skill and standard of living of the Negroes
he would make them effective workmen and competitors who
would maintain a decent level of wages. He would have
sternly suppressed organized or covert opposition to Negro
workmen.
There was, however, no benevolent despot, no philan
thropist, no far-seeing captain of industry to prevent the
Negro from losing even the skill he had learned or to inspire
him by opportunities to learn more. As the older Negroes
128 The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.
with trades dropped off, there was little to induce younger
men to succeed them. On the contrary special effort was
made not to train Negroes for industry or to allow them to
enter on such a career. Consequently they gradually slipped
out of industrial life until in 1890 when the Negroes formed
4 per cent of the population, only i.i per cent of 134,709
men in the principal trades of the city were Negroes ; of
46,200 women in these trades 1.3 per cent were Negroes ;
or taking men and women together, 2160 or 1.19 per cent
of all were Negroes. This does not, however, tell the
whole story, for of this 2160, the barbers, brickmakers,
and dressmakers formed 1434. In the Seventh Ward the
number in the trades is much larger than the proportion
in the city, but here again they are confined to a few
t m des barbers, dressmakers, cigarmakers and shoemakers.
How now has this exclusion been maintained? In
some cases by the actual inclusion of the word " white "
among qualifications for entrance into certain trade unions.
More often, however, by leaving the matter of color
entirely to local bodies, who make no general rule, but
invariably fail to admit a colored applicant except under
pressing circumstances. This is the most workable system
and is adopted by nearly all trade unions. In sections
where Negro labor in certain trades is competent and con
siderable, the trades union welcomes them, as in Western
Pennsylvania among miners and iron-workers, and in
Philadelphia among cigarmakers ; but whenever there is a
trade where good Negro workmen are comparatively
scarce each union steadfastly refuses to admit Negroes, and
relies on color prejudice to keep up the barrier. Thus the
carpenters, masons, painters, iron-workers, etc., have suc
ceeded in keeping out nearly all Negro workmen by
simply declining to work with non-union men and refusing
to let colored men join the union. Sometimes, in time
of strikes, the unions are compelled in self-defence not
only to allow Negroes to join but to solicit them; this
Sect. 23.] Occupations in the City. 129
happened, for instance, in the stone-cutters' strike some
years ago.
To repeat, then, the real motives back of this exclusion
are plain : a large part is simple race prejudice, always
strong in working classes and intensified by the peculiar
history of the Negro in this country. Another part,
however, and possibly a more potent part, is the natural
spirit of monopoly and the desire to keep up wages. So
long as a cry against " Irish " or " foreigners " was able to
marshal race prejudice in the service of those who desired
to keep those people out of some employments, that cry
was sedulously used. So to-day the workmen plainly see
that a large amount of competition can be shut off by
taking advantage of public opinion and drawing the color
line. Moreover, in this there is one thoroughly justifiable
consideration that plays a great part : namely, the Negroes
are used to low wages can live on them, and consequently
would fight less fiercely than most whites against reduc
tion.
The employers in this matter are not altogether blame
less. Their objects in conducting business are not, of
course, wholly philanthropic, and yet, as a class, they rep
resent the best average intelligence and morality of the
community. A firm stand by some of them for common
human right might save the city something in taxes for
the suppression of crime and vice. There came some time
since to the Midvale Steel Works a manager whom many
dubbed a " crank ;" he had a theory that Negroes and
whites could work together as mechanics without friction
or trouble. 16 In spite of some protest he put his theory into
practice, and to-day any one can see Negro mechanics
working in the same gangs with white mechanics with
out disturbance. A few other cases on a smaller scale
18 The large steel manufactory known as the *' Midvale Steel Works "
is located at Nicetown, near Germantown, in Philadelphia County. This
130 The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.
have occurred throughout the city. In general, however,
the black mechanic who seeks work from a mill owner, or
a contractor, or a capitalist is told : " I have no feeling in
the matter, but my men will not work with you." Without
doubt, in many cases, the employer is really powerless ; in
many other cases he is not powerless, but is willing to
appear so.
The Negroes of the city who have trades either give
them up and hire out as waiters or laborers, or they become
job workmen and floating hands, catching a bit of carpen
tering here or a little brick-work or plastering there at
reduced wages. Undoubtedly much blame can rightly be
laid at the door of Negroes for submitting rather tamely to
this organized opposition. If they would meet organization
with organization and excellence of work by excellence,
establishment was visited by the writer, and the manager of the estab
lishment interviewed as to the success of the experiment made by him
in employing Negroes as workmen along with whites.
About 1 200 men are employed altogether, and fully 200 of these are
Negroes. About 40 per cent of the whole number of employes are
American-born, but generally of Irish, English or German parentage.
The remaining 43 per cent are foreign-born, chiefly English, Irish and
German, with a few Swedes.
" Our object in putting Negroes on the force,'' said the manager,
" was twofold. First, we believed them to be good workmen ; secondly,
we thought they could be used to get over one difficulty we had experi
enced at Midvale, namely, the clannish spirit of the workmen and a
tendency to form cliques. In steel manufacture much of the work is
done with large tools run by gangs of men; the work was crippled by
the different foremen trying always to have the men in their gang all of
their own nationality. The English foreman of a hammer gang, for
instance, would want only Englishmen, and the Irish Catholics only
Irishmen. This was not good for the works, nor did it promote friend
liness among the workmen. So we began bringing in Negroes and
placing them on different gangs, and at the same time we distributed
the other nationalities. Now our gangs have, say, one Negro, one or two
Americans, an Englishman, etc. The result has been favorable both for
the men and for the works. Things run smoothly, and the output is
noticeably greater. "
The manager was especially questioned about the grade of work
done by Negroes and their efficiency as skilled workmen. He said:
Sect. 23.] Occupations in the City. 131
they could do much to win standing in the industries of
the cities. This is to-day hard to begin, but it is worth
the trying, and the Industrial Department of the Institute
for Colored Youth, which the Negroes themselves helped
equip, is a step in this direction.
Clerks, Semi-professional and Responsible Workers.
Under this head has been grouped a miscellaneous mass of
occupations : clerks in public and private service, stewards,
messengers, musicians, agents, managers and foremen,
actors, policemen, etc., i. <?., that class of persons whose
position demands a degree of attainment in education,
reliability, talent or skill. Here the number of Negroes
is small, but they are nearly as well represented as in
trades an indication of a rather abnormal development.
Of 46,393 men in this class of occupations in the city (i. e.,
policemen, watchmen, agents, commercial travelers, bankers
"They do all the grades of work done by the white workmen. Some of
this work is of such a nature that it had been supposed that only very
intelligent English and American workmen could be trusted with it. We
have 100 colored men doing that skilled work now, and they do it as well
as any of the others."
As to wages, the manager said no discrimination was made between
Negroes and whites. They start as laborers at $1.20 a day and " we try
to treat them as individuals, not as a herd; they know that good work
gives them a chance for better work and better pay. Thus their ambition
is aroused; yesterday, for instance, four Negroes saved a furnace worth
$30,000. The furnace was full of molten steel, which had become
clogged, so that it could not be gotten out in the usual way. A number
of powerful men were required to open the side of the furnace. Four
colored men volunteered and saved the steel."
With regard to the relations between white and black workmen the
manager said: f * We have had no trouble at all. The unions generally
hold potential strikes over their employers' heads to keep the Negro out
of employment. There has, however, been no strike in this establish
ment for seventeen years, and Negroes have been employed for the last
seven years."
Finally the manager declared that according to his belief the Negro
workman does not have half a. chance to show his ability. "He does
good work and betters his condition when he has any inducement to do
so > ISABEL BATON.
133
The Occupations of Negroes, [Chap. IX.
and brokers, bookkeepers, clerks and salesmen, and bar
keepers) 327, or seven-tenths of i per cent were Negroes ;
if we add to this stewards, messengers, musicians, and
clerks in government service, they form about i per cent of
those in the city. Nearly all the clerks and salesmen are to
be found in Negro stores, although there are a few excep
tions.
CLERKS, SEMI-PROFESSIONAL AND RESPONSIBLE WORKERS IN
PHILADELPHIA, 1890.
Occupation.
Total.
Negroes.
4,113
62
1,683
3 2
5,049
33
2,072
6
23,057
130
Salesmen
10,419
38
Total
46,393
326
There are about sixty colored policemen on the force at
present, and the general impression seems to be that they
make good average officers. They were first appointed to
the police force by Mayor King in 1884. At first there
was violent opposition, which would have been listened to
had it not been for political complications. The Negro
policemen are put on duty mostly in or near the chief
Negro settlements and no one of them has yet been pro
moted from the ranks. The number of Negroes in
government service is as follows :
Municipal departments n
Custom House i
Post-office 17
Navy yard , i
Beside these there are a number of messengers and
ordinary laborers. In many cases these clerks have made
very excellent records, as in the case of the discount clerk
in the tax office, who has held his position for many years,
and is perhaps the most efficient clerk in the office ; or
Sect. 23.] Occupations in the City. 133
again the Negro postmaster and employes in the post-
office at Wanamaker's store who have been unusually
successful in administrating the second largest sub-station
in the city. In a few cases certain Negroes have received
office through political influence and have been plainly
unfitted for their work.
There are a few clerks in responsible positions one
employed by the Pennsylvania railway company, another
in a bank. Such cases, however, are rare.
Laborers. The great mass of the men and a large per
centage of the women are manual laborers i. <?., teamsters,
janitors, stevedores, hod-carriers, hostlers, elevator-men,
sailors, china-packers and night-watchmen. Their wages
are usually :
Teamsters $i to $1.50 a day.
Janitors $30 to $60 a month.
Stevedores 2oc. to 300. an hour (irregular employment).
Hod-carriers .... $ 1.50 to $2.50 a day (employed according to season).
Hostlers $i 6 to $30 a month.
Elevator-men . . . $16 to $25 a month.
Besides these there are the ordinary porters, errand
boys, newsboys and day-laborers, whose earnings vary
considerably, but usually are too small to support a family
without much help from wife and children. Stevedores,
hod-carriers and day-laborers are especially liable to
irregular employment, which makes life hard for them
sometimes. The mass of the men are, save in the lower
grades, given average wages and meet their greatest diffi
culty in securing work. The competition in ordinary
laboring work is severe in so crowded a city. The women
day-laborers are, on the whole, poorly paid, and meet fierce
competition in laundry work and cleaning.
The most noticeable thing about the Negro laborers as
a whole is their uneven quality. There are some first-
class, capable and willing workers, who have held their
positions for years and give perfect satisfaction. On the
134 The Occiipations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.
other hand, there are numbers of inefficient and unintelli
gent laborers on whom employers cannot rely and who
are below average American labor in ability. This
unevenness arises from two causes : the different training
of the various groups of Negroes composing the city
population ; some are the descendants of generations of
free Negroes ; some of trained house-servants, long in close
contact with their masters' families ; others are the sons
of field-hands, untouched and untrained by contact with
civilized institutions : all this vast difference in preparation
shows vast differences in results. The second reason lies
in the increased competition within the group, and the
growing lack of incentive to good work, owing to the
difficulty of escaping from manual toil into higher and
better paid callings ; the higher classes of white labor are
continually being incorporated into the skilled trades, or
clerical workers, or other higher grades of labor. Some
times this happens with Negroes but not often. The first-
class ditcher can seldom become foreman of a gang ; the
hod-carrier can seldom become a mason ; the porter
cannot have much hope of being a clerk, or the elevator-
boy of becoming a salesman. Consequently we find the
ranks of the laborers among Negroes filled to an unusual
extent with disappointed men, with men who have lost the
incentive to excel, and have become chronic grumblers
and complainers, spreading this spirit further than it would
naturally go. At the same time this shutting of the
natural outlet for ability means an increase of competition
for ordinary work.
Without doubt there is not in Philadelphia enough work
of the kind that the mass of Negroes can and may do, to
employ at fair wages the laborers who at present desire
work. The result of this must, of course, be disastrous,
and give rise to many loafers, criminals, and casual labor
ers. The situation is further complicated by the fact
that in seasons when work is more plentiful, temporary
Sect. 23.] Occupations in the City. 135
immigrations from the South swell the number of laborers
abnormally ; every spring the tide of immigration sets in,
consisting of brickmakers, teamsters, asphalt-workers,
common laborers, etc., who work during the summer in
the city and return to the cheaper living of Virginia and
Maryland for the winter. This makes the competition in
summer close for Philadelphians, and often brings actual
distress in winter. A pressing duty is to see that the
opportunities for work in the city are not misrepresented,
and to relieve congestion in some avenues by opening
others to Negro labor. Nor would this be a boon simply
for Negroes : the excessive competition of Negroes in
certain lines of work makes more suffering for their white
competitors than if that competition were less intense in
places and spread over a larger area. White hod-carriers
and porters suffer greatly from competition, while other
branches of labor are artificially protected an economic
injustice which might be remedied.
Another custom that works much harm to all classes
and colors of laborers is the custom of working exclusively
white or exclusively colored gangs of workmen. It is unjust
to the Negro because it virtually closes the greater part of
the field of labor against him, since his numbers are small
compared with the population of the city, and it is harder
for him to gather gangs than for the whites. It is, how
ever, a fruitful cause of injustice to white laborers ; for the
contractor who gets a gang of Negroes to work, has a
temptation to force down wages which he seldom resists or
cares to resist. He knows that the standard of living of
the Negroes is low, and their chances for employment
limited. He therefore takes on a gang of Negroes, lowers
wages, and then if whites wish to regain their places, they
must accept the lower wages. The white laborers then
blame the Negroes for bringing down wages a charge
with just enough truth in it to intensify existing preju
dices. If laborers on ordinary jobs were hired regardless
136 The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.
of color and according to efficiency, no doubt both white
and black labor would gain, and the employer would not
in the long run lose much.
Servants. Probably over one-fourth of the domestic
servants of Philadelphia are Negroes, and conversely
nearly one-third of the Negroes in the city are servants.
This makes the Negro a central problem in any careful
study of domestic service, and domestic service a large
part of the Negro problems. The matter thus is so
important that it has been made the subject of a special
study appended to this work. A few general considera
tions only will be advanced here.
So long as entrance into domestic service involves a loss
of all social standing and consideration, so long will domes
tic service be a social problem. The problem may vary in
character with different countries and times, but there will
always be some maladjustment in social relations when any
considerable part of a population is required to get its sup
port in a manner which the other part despises, or affects
to despise. In the United States the problem is compli
cated by the fact that for years domestic service was per
formed by slaves, and afterward, up till to-day, largely by
black freedmen thus adding a despised race to a despised
calling. Even when white servants increased in number
they were composed of white foreigners, with but a small
proportion of native Americans. Thus by long experience
the United States has come to associate domestic service
with some inferiority in race or training.
The effect of this attitude on the character of the service
rendered, and the relation of mistress and maid, has been
only too evident, and has in late years engaged the atten
tion of some students and many reformers. These have
pointed out how necessary and worthy a work the domestic
performs, or could perform, if properly trained ; that the
health, happiness and efficiency of thousands of homes,
which are training the future leaders of the republic, depend
Sect. 23.] Occupations in the City. 137
largely on their domestic service. This is true, and yet the
remedy for present ills is not clear until we recognize how
far removed the present commercial method of hiring a ser
vant in market is from that which obtained at the time when
the daughters of the family, or of the neighbor's family,
helped in the housework. In other words, the industrial
revolution of the century has affected domestic service
along with other sorts of labor, by separating employer
and employed into distinct classes. With the Negro the
effect of this was not apparent so long as slavery lasted ;
the house servant remained an integral part of the master's
family, with rights and duties. When emancipation broke
this relation there went forth to hire a number of trained
black servants, who were welcomed South and North ; they
liked their work, they knew no other kind, they under
stood it, and they made ideal servants. In Philadelphia
twenty or thirty years ago there were plenty of this class
of Negro servants and a few are still left.
A generation has, however, greatly altered the face of
affairs. There were in the city, in 1890, 42,795 servants,
and of these 10,235 were Negroes. Who are these
Negroes? No longer members of Virginia households
trained for domestic work, but principally young people
who were using domestic service as a stepping-stone to
something else ; who worked as servants simply because
they could get nothing else to do ; who had received no
training in service because they never expected to make it
their life-calling. They, in common with their white fel
low citizens, despised domestic service as a relic of slavery,
and they longed to get other work as their fathers had
longed to be free. In getting other work, however, they
were not successful, partly on account of lack of ability,
partly on account of the strong race prejudice against
them. Consequently to-day the ranks of Negro servants,
and that means largely the ranks of domestic service in
general in Philadelphia^ have received all those whom the
138 The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.
harsh competition of a great city has pushed down, all
whom a relentless color proscription has turned back from
other chosen vocations ; half-trained teachers and poorly
equipped students who have not succeeded ; carpenters and
masons who may not work at their trades ; girls with com
mon school training, eager for the hard work but respect
able standing of shop girls and factory hands, and proscribed
by their color in fact, all those young people who, by
natural evolution in the case of the whites, would have
stepped a grade higher than their fathers and mothers in
the social scale, have in the case of the post-bellum gen
eration of Negroes been largely forced back into the great
mass of the listless and incompetent to earn bread and
butter by menial service.
And they resent it ; they are often discontented and
bitter, easily offended and without interest in their work.
Their attitude and complaint increases the discontent of
their fellows who have little ability, and probably could
not rise in the world if they might And, above all, both
the disappointed and the incompetents are alike ignorant
of domestic service in nearly all its branches, and in this
respect are a great contrast to the older set of Negro
servants.
Under such circumstances the first far-sighted movement
would have been to open such avenues of work and
employment to young Negroes that only those best fitted
for domestic work would enter service. Of course this is
difficult to do even for the whites, and yet it is still the
boast of America that, within certain limits, talent can
choose the best calling for its exercise. Not so with Negro
youth. On the contrary, the field for exercising their talent
and ambition is, broadly speaking, confined to the dining
roonij kitchen and street. If now competition had drained
off the talented and aspiring into other avenues, and eased
the competition in this one vocation, then there would
have been room for a second movement, namely, for training
Sect. 23.] Occupations in the City. 139
schools, which would fit the mass of Negro and white
domestic servants for their complicated and important
duties. Such a twin movement the diversification of
Negro industry and the serious training of domestic ser
vants would do two things : it would take the ban from
the calling of domestic service by ceasing to make "Negro "
and " servant " synonymous terms. This would make it
possible for both whites and blacks to enter more freely into
service without a fatal and disheartening loss of self-
respect ; secondly, it would furnish trained servants a sad
necessity to-day, as any housekeeper can testify.
Such a movement did not, however, take place, but, on
the contrary, another movement. English trained ser
vants, the more docile Swedes and better paid white ser
vants were brought in to displace Negro servants. One
has but to notice the coachmen on the driveways, or the
butlers on Rittenhouse Square, or the nursemaids in Fair-
mount Park, to see how largely white servants have dis
placed Negroes. How has this displacement been brought
about? First, by getting better trained and more willing
servants ; secondly, by paying servants higher wages. The
Swedish and American servants, in most cases, know more
of domestic service than the post-bellum generation of
Negroes, and certainly as a class they are far more recon
ciled to their lot. In the higher branches of domestic ser
vice cooks, butlers and coachmen the process has been
to substitute a man at $50 to $75 a month for one at $30
to $ 40, and naturally again the resnlt has been gratifying,
because a better class of men are attracted by the wages ;
thus the waiters at the new large hotels are not merely
white, but better paid, and undoubtedly ought to render bet
ter service. In these ways without doubt domestic service
has in some respects improved in the city by a partial substi
tution of better trained, better paid and more contented white
servants for poorly trained, discontented, and in the case
of waiters, butlers and coachmen, poorly paid Negroes.
140 The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX,
Moreover, the substitution has not met with active opposi
tion or economic resistance on the part of the Negroes,
because fully one-half of those in domestic service would
be only too glad to get other work of any kind.
What now has been the result of these economic changes ?
The result has undoubtedly been the increase of crime, pau
perism and idleness among Negroes : because while they are
being to some extent displaced as servants, no correspond
ing opening for employment in other lines has been made.
How long can such a process continue ? How long can a
community pursue such a contradictory economic policy
first confining a large portion of its population to a pursuit
which public opinion persists in looking down upon ; then
displacing them even there by better trained and better paid
competitors. Manifestly such a course is bound to make
that portion of the community a burden on the public ; to
debauch its women, pauperize its men, and ruin its homes ;
it makes the one central question of the Seventh Ward,
not imperative social betterments, raising of the standard
of home life, taking advantage of the civilizing institutions
of the great city on the contrary, it makes it a sheer
question of bread and butter and the maintenance of a
standard of living above that of the Virginia plantation.
Nor has the whole group failed in every case to answer
this question : the foregoing statistics show how, slowly and
under many discouragements, diversification of employ
ments is taking place among the black population. This,
however, is the brighter side and represents the efforts of
that determined class among all people that surmount
eventually nearly all obstacles. The spirit of the age
however looks to-day not to the best and most energetic,
but to those on the edge, those who will become effect
ive members of society only when properly encouraged. The
great mass of the Negroes naturally belong to this class and
when we turn to the darker side of the picture and study
the disease, poverty and crime of the Negro population,
Sect. 24.] History of Occupations. 141
then we realize that the question of employment for
Negroes is the most pressing of the day and that the starting
point is domestic service which still remains their peculiar
province. First then as before said the object of social
reform should be so to diversify Negro employments as to
afford proper escape from menial employment for the
talented few, and so as to allow the mass some choice in
their lifework : this would be not only for the sake of
Negro development, but for the sake of a great human
industry which must continue to suffer as long as the odium
of race is added to a disposition to look down upon the
employment under any circumstances ; the next movement
ought to be to train servants not toward servility and toady
ing, but in problems of health and hygiene, in proper clean
ing and cooking, and in matters of etiquette and good form.
To this must be added such arousing of the public con
science as shall lead people to recognize more keenly than
now the responsibility of the family toward its servants to
remember that they are constituent members of the family
group and as such have rights and privileges as well as
duties. To-day in Philadelphia the tendency is the other
way. Thousands of servants no longer lodge where they
work but are free at night to wander at will, to hire lodg
ings in suspicious houses, to consort with paramours, and
thus to bring moral and physical disease to their place of
work. A reform is imperatively needed, and here, as in most
of the Negro problems, a proper reform will benefit white
and black alike the employer as well as the employed.
24. History of the Occupations of Negroes. There
early arose in the colony of Pennsylvania the custom of
hiring out slaves, especially mechanics .and skilled work
men. This very soon roused the ire of the free white
workmen, and in 1708 and 1722 we find them petitioning
the legislature against the practice, and receiving some
encouragement therefrom. As long, however, as an in
fluential class of slaveholders had a direct financial interest
142 The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.
in black mechanics they saw to it that neither law nor
prejudice hindered Negroes from working. Thus before
and after the Revolution there were mechanics as well as
servants among the Negroes. The proportion of servants,
however, was naturally very large. We have no figures
until 1820, when of, the 7582 Negroes in the city, 2585 or 34
per cent were servants ; in 1840, 27 per cent were servants.
Some of these servants represented families, so that the
proportion of those dependent on domestic service was
larger even than the percentage indicated. In 1896 in the
Seventh Ward the per cent of servants, using the same
method of computation^was 27.3 per cent.
Of those not servants, the Negroes themselves declared
in 1832, that " notwithstanding the difficulty of getting
places for our sons as apprentices to learn mechanical
trades, owing to the prejudices with which we have to con
tend, there are between four and five hundred people of color
in the city and suburbs who follow mechanical employ
ments." In 1838 the investigator of the Abolition Society
found 997 of the 17,500 Negroes in the county who had
learned trades, although only a part of these (perhaps 350)
actually worked at their trades at that time. The rest, out
side the servants and men with trades, were manual
laborers. Many of these mechanics were afterward driven
from the city by the mobs.
In 1848 another study of the Negroes found the distribu
tion of the Negroes as follows :
Of 3358 men, twenty-one years of age and over :
Laborers . . . 1581
Waiters, cooks, etc 557
Mechanics 286
Coachmen, carters, etc 276
Sailors, etc 240
Shopkeepers, traders, etc 166
Barbers 156
Various occupations 96
3358
Sect 24.] History of Occupations. 143
Of 4249 women, twenty-one years and over there were :
Washerwomen 1970
Seamstresses 486
Day workers 786
In trades 213
Housewives 290
Servants (living at home) 156
Cooks 173
Rag pickers 103
Various occupations 72
4249
Of both sexes five to twenty years of age there were :
School children 1940
Unaccounted for 1200
At home 484
Helpless 33
Working at home 274
Servants 354
laborers 253
Sweeps 12
Porters 18
Apprentices 230
4798
Besides these there were in white families 3716 servants.
Just how accurate the statistics of 1847 were it is now
difficult to say, probably there was some exaggeration from
the well-meant effort of the friends of the Negro to show
the best side. Nevertheless it seems as though the diver
sity of employments at this time was considerable, although
of course under such heads as "shopkeepers and traders "
street stands more often than stores were meant,
In 1856 the inquiry appears to have been more exhaus
tive and careful, and the number of Negroes with trades
had increased to 1637 including barbers and dressmakers.
Bven here, however, some uncertainty enters, for " less than
two-thirds of those who have trades follow them. A few
of the remainder pursue other avocations from choice, but
the greater number are compelled to abandon their trades
144
The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.
on account of the unrelenting prejudice against their
color." The following table gives these returns :
OCCUPATION OF PHILADELPHIA NEGROES, 1856.
Mechanical Trades.
Dressmakers 588
Barbers 248
Shoemakers 112
Shirt and dressmakers ... * 70
Brickmakers 53
Carpenters 49
Milliners and dressmakers 45
Tailors , 49
Tanners and curriers 24
Blacksmiths 22
Cabinetmakers . , 20
Weavers 16
Pastry cooks 10
Plasterers 14
Sailmakers 12
113 other trades with one to nine in each 305
1637
In the light of such historical testimony it seems certain
that the industrial condition of the Negro in the last cen
tury has undergone great vicissitudes, although it is difficult
sometimes to trace them. A diagram something like this
would possibly best represent the historical development
for a century :
179Q 1800
1820 1830 1840 1850 I860
1870 I860 1690
Such a diagram must of course be based largely upon
conjecture, but it represents as nearly as the data allow
the proportionate not the absolute extent to which the
Negroes of the city are represented in certain pursuits.
Sect. 24.] History of Occupations. 145
In the half century 1840 to 1890 the proportion of
Negroes who are domestic servants has not greatly changed ;
the mass of the remainder are still laborers ; their oppor
tunities for employment have been restricted by three
causes : competition, industrial change, color prejudice.
The competition has come in later years from the phenom
enal growth of cities and the consequent hardening of
conditions of life ; the Negro has especially felt this change
because of all the elements of our urban population he is
least prepared by previous training for rough, keen compe
tition ; the industrial changes since and just before the
emancipation of the slaves have had a great influence on
their development, to which little notice has hitherto been
given. In the industrial history of nations the change
from agriculture to manufacturing and trade has been a
long, delicate process : first came house industries spin
ning and weaving and the like ; then the market with its
simple processes of barter and sale ; then the permanent
stall or shop, and at last the small retail store. In our day
this small retail store is in process of evolution to some
thing larger and more comprehensive. When we look at
this development and see how suddenly the American city
Negro has been snatched from agriculture to the centres of
trade and manufactures, it should not surprise us to learn
that he has not as yet succeeded in finding a permanent place
in that vast system of industrial co-operation. Apart from
all questions of race, his problem in this respect is greater
than the problem of the white country boy or the European
peasant immigrant, because his previous industrial condition
was worse than theirs and less calculated to develop the
power of self-adjustment, self-reliance and co-operation.
All these considerations are further complicated by the fact
that the industrial condition of the Negro cannot be con
sidered apart from the great fact of race prejudice indefi
nite and shadowy as that phrase may be. It is certain
that, while industrial co-operation among the groups of a
146 The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.
great city population is very difficult under ordinary cir
cumstances, that here it is rendered more difficult and in
some respects almost impossible by the fact that nineteen-
tweiitieths of the population have in many cases refused
to co-operate with the other twentieth, even when the
co-operation means life to the latter and great advantage to
the fortner. In other words, one of the great postulates of
the science of economics that men will seek their
economic advantage is in this case untrue, because in many
cases men will not do this if it involves association, even
in a casual and business way, with Negroes. And this
fact must be taken account of in all judgments as to the
Negro's economic progress.
CHAPTER X.
THK HEALTH OF NEGROES.
25. The Interpretation of Statistics. The character
istic signs which usually accompany a low civilization are
a high birth rate and a high death rate ; or, in other
words, early marriages and neglect of the laws of physical
health. This fact, which has often been illustrated by sta
tistical research, has not yet been fully apprehended by
the general public because they have long been used to
hearing more or less true tales of the remarkable health
and longevity of barbarous peoples. For this reason the
recent statistical research which reveals the large death rate
among American Negroes is open to very general misappre
hension. It is a remarkable phenomenon which throws
much light on the Negro problems and suggests some
obvious solutions. On the other hand, it does not prove,
as most seem to think, a vast recent change in the con
dition of the Negro. Reliable data as to the physical
health of the Negro in slavery are entirely wanting ; and
yet, judging from the horrors of the middle passage, the
decimation on the West Indian plantations, and the bad
sanitary condition of the Negro quarters on most Southern
plantations, there must have been an immense death rate
among slaves, notwithstanding all reports as to endur
ance, physical strength and phenomenal longevity. Just
how emancipation has affected this death rate is not clear ;
the rush to cities, where the surroundings are tmhealthful,
has had a bad effect, although this migration on a large
scale is so recent that its full effect is not yet apparent ; on
the other hand, the better care of children and improvement
in home life has also had some favorable effect. On the
whole, then, we must remember that reliable statistics as
to Negro health are but recent in date and that as yet no
(147)
148 The Health of Negroes. [Chap. X.
important conclusions can be arrived at as to historic
changes or tendencies. One thing we must of course
expect to find, and that is a much higher death rate at
present among Negroes than among whites : this is one
measure of the difference in their social advancement. They
have in the past lived under vastly different conditions and
they still live under different conditions : to assume that,
in discussing the inhabitants of Philadelphia, one is dis
cussing people living under the same conditions of life, is
to assume what is not true. Broadly speaking, the Negroes
as a class dwell in the most unhealthful parts of the city
and in the worst houses in those parts ; which is of course
simply saying that the part of the population having a
large degree of poverty, ignorance and general social
degradation is usually to be found in the worst portions of
our great cities.
Therefore, in considering the health statistics of the
Negroes, we seek first to know their absolute condition,
rather than their relative status ; we want to know what
their death rate is, how it has varied and is varying and
what its tendencies seem to be; with these facts fixed we
must then ask, What is the meaning of a death rate like
that of the Negroes of Philadelphia ? Is it, compared with
with other races, large, moderate or small ; and in the case
of nations or groups with similar death rates, What has
been the tendency and outcome ? Finally, we must com
pare the death rate of the Negroes with that of the com
munities in which they live and thus roughly measure the
social difference between these neighboring groups ; we
must endeavor also to eliminate, so far as possible, from the
problem disturbing elements which would make a differ
ence in health among people of the same social advance
ment. Only in this way can we intelligently interpret
statistics of Negro health.
Here, too, we have to remember that the collection of
statistics, even in Philadelphia, is by no means perfect.
Sect. 26.] The Statistics of the City.
149
The death returns are to be relied upon, but the returns of
births are wide of the true condition ; the statistics of causes
of death are also faulty.
26. The Statistics of the City. The mortality of
Negroes in Philadelphia, according to the best reports, has
been as follows : l
Date.
Average Annual
Deaths per 1000
Negroes.
47.6
32.5
31.25*
1891-1896
28.02f
* Including still-births ; excluding still-births, 29.52.
f Including still-births and assuming the average Negro population, 1891-1896, at
the low figure of 41,500.* For this period, excluding still-births, 25.41.
The average annual death rate, 1884 to 1890, in the
wards having over 1000 Negro inhabitants, was as follows :
Ward.
Negro
Population.
Death Rate per
1000, excluding
Still-births,
1884-90
Fourth, ....*. ........
2,573
43-38
Fifth .
2,335
48.46
8,861
30.54
Eighth
3,011
29.25
1,379
22.38
1,751
20. 18
1,333
18.64
l798
I 5-9 I
1,026
18.67
1,375
18.15
2,077
39.86
1,476
19.09
Thirtieth ....
1,789
21.74
2,003
35.11
City
39,371
29.52
1 The earlier figures are from Dr. Emerson's reports, in the " Condition/ 1
etc., of the Negro, 1838, and from the pamphlet, " Health of Convicts.'*
All the tables, 1884 to 1890, are from Dr. John Billings' report in the
Eleventh Census. Later reports are compiled from the City Health
Reports, 1890 to 1896.
2 This figure is conjectural, as the real Negro population is unknown.
Estimated according to the rate of increase from 1880 to 1890, the aver
age annual population would have been 42,229 ; I think this is too high,
as the rate of increase has been lower in this decade.
150 The Health of Negroes. [Chap. X.
Separating the deaths by the sex of the deceased, we
have :
Total death rate of Negroes, 1890, (still -births
included) 32.42 per 1000.
For Negro males 36.02 "
For Negro females 29.23 "
Separating by age, we have :
Total death rate, 1890 (still-births included)
all ages . . 32.42 per 1000.
Under fifteen 69. 24
Fifteen to twenty 13.61
Twenty to twenty-five 14. 50
Twenty-five to thirty-five 15.21
Thirty-five to forty-five 17.16
Forty-five to fifty-five 29.41
Fifty-five to sixty-five 40.09
Sixty-five and over 116.49
The large infant mortality is shown by the average
annual rate of 171.44 (including still-births), for children
under five years of age, during the years 1884 to 1890.
These statistics are very instructive. Compared with
modern nations the death rate of Philadelphia Negroes is
high, but not extraordinarily so : Hungary (33.7), Austria
(30.6), and Italy (28.6), had in the years 1871-90 a larger
average than the Negroes in 1891-96, and some of these
lands surpass the rate of 1884-90. Many things com
bine to cause the high Negro death rate : poor heredity,
neglect of infants, bad dwellings and poor food. On the
other hand the age classification of city Negroes with its
excess of females and of young people of twenty to thirty-
five years of age, must serve to keep the death rate lower
than its rate would be under normal circumstances. The in
fluence of bad sanitary surroundings is strikingly illustrated
in the enormous death rate of the Fifth Ward the worst
Negro slum in the city, and the worst part of the city in
respect to sanitation. On the other hand the low death
rate of the Thirtieth Ward illustrates the influences of
Sect 26.] The Statistics of the City, 151
good houses and clean streets in a district where the better
class of Negroes have recently migrated.
The marked excess of the male death rate points to a
great difference in the social condition of the sexes in the
city, as it far exceeds the ordinary disparity ; as, e. g., in
Germany where the rates are, males 28.6, females 25.3.*
The young girls who come to the city have practically
no chance for work except domestic service. This
branch of work, however, has the great advantage of being
healthful ; the servant has usually a good dwelling, good
food and proper clothing. The boy, on the contrary,
usually has to live in a bad part of the city, on poorly pre
pared or irregular food and is more exposed to the weather.
Moreover, his chances of securing any work at all are much
smaller than the girls'. Consequently the female death
rate is but 81 per cent of the male rate.
When we turn to the statistics of death according to age,
we immediately see that, as is usual in such cases, the high
death rate is caused by an excessive infant mortality, which
ranks very high compared with other groups.
The chief diseases to which Negroes fall victims are :*
Disease.
Death Rate per
ioo,oco, 1890.
2 52
Diseases of tlie nervous system
38886
a^6 6?
Heart disease and dropsy
257. ^Q
Still-births . . ...
203 10
Diarrheal diseases .. .
IQ-3 TQ
T7-2 7C
QQ.O7
Typhoid fever
91.64
For the period, 18911896, the average annual rate was
as follows :
3 This and other comparisons are mostly taken from Mayo-Smith,
* Statistics and Sociology. "
* For death rate, 1884-1890, Cf. below, p. 159.
152
The Health of Negroes.
[Chap. X.
Disease.
Death Rate per
100,000, 1891-1896.
C^nsuttiptinti , , , . . .
426 50
Diseases of the nervous system
7O7 6^
Pneumonia
290.76
Heart disease and dropsy . . . .
172 6Q
Still and premature births
2TO 12
Typhoid fever
44-9S
The strikingly excessive rate here is that of consump
tion, which is the most fatal disease for Negroes. Bad ven
tilation, lack of outdoor life for women and children, poor
protection against dampness and cold are undoubtedly the
chief causes of this excessive death rate. To this must be
added some hereditary predisposition, the influence of
climate, and the lack of nearly all measures to prevent the
spread of the disease.
We find thus a group of people with a high, but not
unusual, death rate, which rate has been gradually decreas
ing, if statistics are reliable, for seventy-five years. This
death rate is due principally to infantile mortality and
consumption, and these are caused chiefly by conditions of
life and poor hereditary physique.
How now does this group compare with the condition of
the mass of the community with which it comes in daily
contact? Comparing the death rates of whites and
Negroes, we have :
Date.
Whites. Negroes.
1820-1830 .
4.7 6
1830-1840
23 7 ^2 5
1884-1890*
22 69 31 25
1891-1896 f .
2I.20{ 25.41?
* Including still-births.
I Excluding still-births.
J Assuming white population, 1891-96, has increased in the same ratio as 1880-90, and
that it averaged 1,066,985 in these years.
g Assuming that the mean Negro population was 41,500.
This shows a considerable difference in death rates,
amounting to nearly 10 per cent in 1884-1890, and to 4
per cent by the estimated rates of 1891-1896. If the
Sect 26.]
The Statistics of the City.
estimate of population on which the latter rate is based is
correct, then the difference in death rate is not larger than
would be expected from different conditions of life. 5
The absolute number of deaths (excluding still-births)
has been as follows :
Year.
Whites.
Negroes.
22 ^84.
Q8l
l3g2 .
21 273
I O72
i8cn. .
22,621
I.O^d
180/1
21 060
I O^O
iSox
22,645
I 151
1896
22,903
1,079
Comparing the death rate by wards we have this table :
POPULATION AND DEATH RATE, PHILADELPHIA, 1884-90.
Wards.
Population, 1890.
Death Rate per rooo,
excluding Still-births.
White.
Colored.
White.
Colored.
First
53,057
31,016
I943
I7 S 79 2
14,6:9
3,574
21,177
I3'94o
9,284
20,495
12,931
13,821
794
522
861
2,573
2,335
125
8,861
3,on
497
798
ii
338
22.08
23-93
23.91
29.98
25.67
24.30
24.30
24.26
25.40
19.88
28.31
21-57
33-07
24.21
21.71
43.33
48.46
49-77
30-54
2925
2232
14-51
500.00
44.85
Second ...
Third ... ...
Fourth . . . .
Fifth
Sixth
Seventh . . . , ...
Eighth
Ninth . . .
Tenth
Eleventh ....
Twelfth
6 The official figures of the Board of Health give no estimate of the
Negro death-rate alone. They give the following death rate for the city
including both whites and blacks, and excluding still- births:
v Total Number Death rate per 1000
Year - of Deaths. of Population.
1891 23,367 21.85
1892 24,305 22.25
1893 23,655 21.20
1894 22,68o 19-9
1895 23,796 20.44
1896 23,982 20.17
Average death rate for the six years, 20.97; by my calculation, the
rate for the whole population would be 21.63.
154
The Health of Negroes.
[Chap. X.
POPULATION AND DEATH RATE, 1884-90 Continued.
Wards.
Population, 1890.
Death Rate per 1000,
excluding Still-births.
White.
Colored.
White.
Colored.
Thirteenth
17,362
19,339
50,954
16,973
19,412
29,142
55,249
43,127
26,800
43,5*2
34,255
41,600
35,677
60,722
30,712
45,727
53,26i
28,808
3 2 ,944
29,662
32,975
22,628
539
1,379
i,75i
104
124
i
275
1,333
93
1,798
1,026
9^0
260
i,3?5
2,077
644
1,476
1,789
16
382
190
1,073
20.67
21.47
20.08
28.04
28.89
24.42
23.73
20.77
1945
17.77
18.50
17.95
24-29
19.48
31.91
15.56
20.19
22.12
21.46
I4.6l
13.07
28.76
22.38
20.18
46.38
64.95
90.91
5^-33
18.64
56.78
15.91
18.67
35-H
33-33
18.15
39-86
15.96
39.09
21.74
57-47
13.66
I8 .6 3
Fourteenth
Fifteenth
Sixteenth . .
Seventeenth
^Eighteenth
Nineteenth
Twentieth . .
Twenty-first
Twenty-second ....
Twenty-third
Twenty-fourth ....
Twenty-fifth
Twenty-sixth
Twenty-seventh
Twenty-eighth . .
Twenty-ninth
Thirtieth
Thirty-first . . .
Thirtj'-second
Thirty-third
Thirty-fourth
Whole citv
i. 006.^00
^Q.^71
21. ^A
20. ?2
* Death rate included in that of the Twenty-fourth ward.
From this table we may make some interesting compari
sons : take first the worst wards :
Ward.
Whites.
Negroes.*
Fourth
2Q 08
Al lS
Fifth . , .
-cy.yu
OC 67
48 46
Seventh .
2A ^O
20 <\A.
Eighth .
2A 26
2Q 2*?
* Total Negro population, 16,780.
In all these wards there is a large Negro population com
prising a considerable per cent of new immigrants ; and
these wards contain the worst slum districts and most un
sanitary dwellings of the city. However, there are in
these same wards peculiar circumstances which decrease
the death rate of the whites : First, in the Fourth and
Fifth wards a large number of foreign immigrants whose
Sect. 26.]
The Statistics of the City.
155
death rate, on account of the absence of old people and
children, is small ; and of Jews whose death rate is, on
account of their fine family life, also small ; secondly, in the
Seventh and Eighth wards there are, as all Philadelphians
know, large sections inhabited by the best people of the
city, with a death rate below the average.
Taking another set of wards, we have :
Ward,
Whites.
Negroes.*
21 A7
22 *8
Fifteenth
2O OS
**>*><->
20. 18
Twenty-sixth . ....
IQ A.S
l8.I5
Twenty-seventh. *
^I.QT
^0.86
Thirtieth
22.12
21.74
* Total Negro population, 8,371.
Here we have quite a different tale. These are the
wards where the best Negro families have been renting
and buying homes in the last ten years, in order to escape
from the crowded downtown wards. The Thirtieth and
Twenty-sixth wards are the best sections ; the statistics of
the Fourteenth and Fifteenth wards show the same thing
although their validity is somewhat vitiated by the large
number of Negro servants there in the prime of life.
A last set of wards is as follows :
Ward.
Whites.
Negroes.*
Twentieth . . ....
2O 77
18 64.
Twenty-second
17 77
IS QI
Twenty-third . .
18 50
18.67
Twenty-eighth ..
J-O^W
1C. co
15.96
2O IQ
IQ.OQ
* Total Negro population, 6,277.
In most of these some exceptional circumstances make
the Negro death rate abnormally low. Generally this
arises from the fact that these are white residential wards
and the Negro population is largely composed of servants.
These, as has been before noted, have a small death rate
because of their ages, and then too, when they are sick
156
The Health of Negroes.
[Chap. X.
they go home to die in the Seventh Ward, or to the hos
pitals in the Twenty-seventh and other wards.
These tables would seem to adduce considerable proof
that the Negro death rate is largely a matter of condition
of living.
When we look at the comparative deaths of the races,
by sex, we see that the forces operating among Negroes to
make a disparity between the death rates of men and
women are largely absent among the whites.
Sex.
White.
Negro.
Total.
Male .
23.85
36.02
24.30
Female
20.79
29.23
21.12
(1890, including still-births.)
The age structure reveals partially the character of the
great differences in death rate between the races. (See
page 157.)
DEATH RATE OF PHILADELPHIA BY AGE PERIODS, FOR 1890.
RATE PER 1000
4060 50*0 5070 70-80 80-90 9CHOO 100-HO IKH20
(STU-U-BIRTHS INCLUDED)
[ NEGROES J 'WHITES
Sect 26.] 7%e Statistics of the City.
oo
I
o
<J
A
fc
I
cd
W
PQ
I
s
sis
o o:S
fOVO UOOO I s - M
^CTi- 00\3 t>.i-
tv rCOO C* W O
2
O O M
O uo
5 tO 1 **- O w r- wvo ONt*w q\o
ONwOCOlO^lOOVOOOVOJC^.
s-d-w w o^^cjc* tooo f 1000 (^
r inT fT cT Ci" w" M" M" tow" JH"
r^'wc
tJ
:^
* ""
158 The Health of Negroes. [Chap. X.
DEATH RATE IN PHILADELPHIA, 1890, BY EIGHT AGE PERIODS.
Color.
M
Iff
|
I
s
to
i
45-55.
!
|s
Total whites
22 28
TA 80
6 17
8 81
10 85
13 60
18 98
88 88
Total male whites
23 85
37 22
6 40
10 12
II 28
15 30
20 85
ag AA
2O 7O
32 SI
c go
764
TO 4-1
II Ql
27 x*2
Total Negroes
32.42
69 24
13 61
14, SO
IS 21
17 16
2Q.4.I
4O Oo
85.35
Total male Negroes
36.02
15.01
jg 75
14 12
2O S2
j? 67
4,7 7o
Total female Negroes .'....
Native whites
29.23
22 80
63.12
12.66
6 20
1046
8 64
16.24
TO 74.
13.55
12 SS
25.48
17 8^
34-57
2Q 6l
96.47
Native white males
24. 4^
7O 37
6 34
o 6s
10 OS
T-I 7-1
IO AA
1A. O4.
98 66
Native white females ....
21.25
34.25
6 07
7.70
10.55
"43
16.35
25.82
82.73
For children under five, including still-births, we find
these average annual death rates, 1884-1890:
Race.
City.
Seventh Ward.
Native white
QJ..OO
Ill 04
Negro . . .
T7T AA
188 82
Total population . . .
QA. *7Q
T32 fil
y4-/y
A o^' D 3
Nothing shows more plainly the poor home life of the
Negroes than these figures. A comparison of the differ
ences in death rate from various diseases will complete the
picture :
DEATH RATE PER 100,000 FROM SPECIFIED DISEASES, 1890.
For Whole City.
Disease.
Negro.
White.
Consumption
r'12 ;2
260 /12
Pneumonia
acfi 67
1 80 71
Diarrheal diseases
TQ7 TO
TCT AQ
Diseases of the nervous system ... . .
388 86
7Q2 oi
Diphtheria and croup
AA eft
82 O6
Diseases of the urinary system
I-i^t 7c
60 8r
Heart disease and dropsy .......
2^7 ^Q
TC7 16
Cancer and tumor , .
27 TC
c6 6^
Disease of the liver
12 ^8
27 ^2
Malarial fever
7.4.*
5 66
Typhoid fever
/Jo
OI OJ.
72 82
Still-births
203 10
T2C fir
Suicides
3 .20
^oo- 01
12 OQ
Other accidents and injuries .
99.07
78.78
Sect 26.]
The Statistics of the City.
159
AVERAGE ANNUAL DEATH RATE OF PHILADELPHIA, 1884-1890,
EACH 100,000 OF POPULATION.
For Specified Diseases.
Whites.
Causes.
Total.
Total.
Native.
Foreign.
Negro.
All causes . . .
21O1 41
226Q IQ
2562 11
I47O 26
1124 81
Scarlet fever ....
Typhoid fever ....
Malarial fever ....
Diphtheria
^sV-'.V'HO
26.18
69-35
7.21
5O.48
26.86
6 9 .65
7.19
51.4.8
35.84
73.10
8.22
6Q.1O
2.39
60.25
4-37
2 Q2
9.82
62.31
7.68
26 46
Croup ,
47.82
AQ oi
6641
I 66
18 78
Diarrheal diseases . .
Consumption ....
Pneumonia
156.11
297.87
164.17
155-3
287.06
158.77
196.16
299.29
174.70
43-94
253-72
115. 11
195.40
557.36
201.62
Measles
10.67
IO.6?
14.17
.60
10 67
Whooping-cough . .
Cancer and tumor . .
Heart disease and
dropsy ....
11-39
54-73
146.27
IO.69
55.17
I42.IO
14.52
48.15
17 44
-27
74-30
154 8l
28.17
44.38
246 25
Childbirth and puer
peral diseases . . .
Diseases of liver . .
nervous system
urinary organs
Old age
10. 06
27-58
318.83
74.90
46.08
9.98
28.32
315.86
73.44
45*99
9.6l
24.70
373.38
72.54
^7.11
II.OO
38.18
159.07
75.89
7O.I2
H-95
9.82
390.07
IIO. 1 1
48.23
Stillbirths . . .
All other causes . . .
Unknown
117.68
656.01
IO.O2
115.38
646.23
IO.O2
157.72
743-50
10.19
381.10
9*54
172.84
890.67
10.24
The Negroes exceed the white death rate largely in con
sumption, pneumonia, diseases of the urinary system, heart
disease and dropsy, and in still-births ; they exceed moder
ately in diarrheal diseases, diseases of the nervous system,
malarial and typhoid fevers. The white death rate exceeds
that of Negroes for diphtheria and croup, cancer and tumor,
diseases of the liver, and deaths from suicide.
We have side by side and in intimate relationship in a
large city two groups of people, who as a mass differ con
siderably from each other in physical health ; the differ
ence is not so great as to preclude hopes of final adjust
ment ; probably certain social classes of the larger group
are in no better health than the mass of the smaller group.
So too there are without doubt classes in the smaller group
whose physicial condition is equal to, or superior to the
160 The Health of Negroes. [Chap. X.
average of the larger group. Particularly with regard to
consumption it must be remembered that Negroes are not
the first people who have been claimed as its peculiar vic
tims; the Irish were once thought to be doomed by that
disease but that was when Irishmen were unpopular.
Nevertheless, so long as any considerable part of
the population of an organized community is, in its
mode of life and physical efficiency distinctly and no
ticeably below the average, the community must suffer.
The suffering part furnishes less than its quota of
workers, more than its quota of the helpless and
dependent and consequently becomes to an extent a burden
on the community. This is the situation of the Negroes
of Philadelphia to-day : because of their physical 'health
they receive a larger portion of charity, spend a larger
proportion of their earnings for physicians and medicine,
throw on the community a larger number of helpless
widows and orphans than either they or the city can afford.
Why is this ? Primarily it is because the Negroes are as
a mass ignorant of the laws of health. One has but to visit
a Seventh Ward church on Sunday night and see an audi
ence of 1500 sit two and threehoursin the foul atmosphere
of a closely shut auditorium to realize that long formed
habits of life explain much of Negro consumption and
pneumonia ; again the Negroes live in unsanitary dwell
ings, partly by their own fault, partly on account of the
difficulty of securing decent houses by reason of race
prejudice. If one goes through the streets of the Seventh
Ward and picks out those streets and houses which, on
account of their poor condition, lack of repair, absence of
conveniences and limited share of air and light, contain the
worst dwellings, one finds that the great majority of such
streets and houses are occupied by Negroes. In some
cases it is the Negroes' fault that the houses are so bad ;
but in very many cases landlords refuse to repair and refit
for Negro tenants because they know that there are few
Sect 26.] The Statistics of the City. 161
dwellings which Negroes can hire, and they will not there
fore be apt to leave a fair house on account of damp walls
or poor sewer connections. Of modern conveniences
Negro dwellings have few. Of the 2441 families of the
Seventh Ward only 14 per cent had water closets and baths,
and many of these were in poor condition. In a city of
yards, 20 per cent of the families had no private yard
and consequently no private outhouses.
Again, in habits of personal cleanliness and taking proper
food and exercise, the colored people are woefully defi
cient. The Southern field-hand was hardly supposed to
wash himself regularly, and the house servants were none
too clean. Habits thus learned have lingered, and a gospel
of soap and water needs now to be preached. Negroes are
commonly supposed to eat rather more than necessary. And
this perhaps is partially true. The trouble is more in the
quality of the food than its quantity, in the wasteful method
of its preparation, and in the irregularity in eating. 6 For in
stance, one family of three living in the depth of dirt and
poverty on a crime-stricken street spent for their daily food :
Cents.
Milk, for child 4
One pound pork chops 10
One loaf bread 5
19
When we imagine this pork fried in grease and eaten
with baker's bread, taken late in the afternoon or at bed
time, what can we expect of such a family ? Moreover,
the tendency of the classes who are just struggling out of
extreme poverty is to stint themselves for food in order to
have better looking homes; thus the rent in too many
cases eats up physical nourishment.
Finally, the number of Negroes who go with insufficient
clothing is large. One of the commonest causes of
6 Cf. Atwater & Woods Dietary Studies with reference to the Food
of the Negro in Alabama?' (Bulletin No. 38, U. S. Dept, of Agriculture),
p. 21, and. passim.
i6z The Health of Negroes. [Chap. X.
consumption and respiratory disease is migration from the
warmer South to a Northern city without change in manner
of dress. The neglect to change clothing after becoming
damp with rain is a custom dating back to slavery time.
These are a few obvious matters of habit and manner of
life which account for much of the poor health of Negroes.
Further than this, when in poor health the neglect to take
proper medical advice, or to follow it when given, leads to
much harm. Often at the hospital a case is treated and
temporary relief given, the patient being directed to
return after a stated time. More often with Negroes than
with whites, the patient does not return until he is worse
off than at first. To this must be added a superstitious
fear of hospitals prevalent among the lower classes of all
people, but especially among Negroes. This must have
some foundation in the roughness or brusqueness of man
ner prevalent in many hospitals, and the lack of a tender
spirit of sympathy with the unfortunate patients. At any
rate, many a Negro would almost rather die than trust
himself to a hospital.
We must remember that all these bad habits and sur
roundings are not simply matters of the present generation,
but that many generations of unhealthy bodies have be
queathed to the present generation impaired vitality and
hereditary tendency to disease. This at first seems to be
contradicted by the reputed robustness of older generations
of blacks, which was certainly true to a degree. There
cannot, however, be much doubt, when former social condi
tions are studied, but that hereditary disease plays a large
part in the low vitality of Negroes to-day, and the health
of the past has to some extent been exaggerated. All these
considerations should lead to concerted efforts to root out
disease. The city itself has much to do in this respect. For
so large and progressive a city its general system of drainage
is very bad; its water is wretched, and in many other
respects the city and the whole State are "woefully and
Sect. 26.] The Statistics of the City. 163
discreditably behind almost all the other States in Christen
dom." 7 The main movement for reform must come from
the Negroes themselves, and should start with a crusade
for fresh air, cleanliness, healthfully located homes and
proper food. All this might not settle the question of
Negro health, but it would be a long step toward it
The most difficult social problem in the matter of Negro
health is the peculiar attitude of the nation toward the
well-being of the race. There have, for instance, been
few other cases in the history of civilized peoples where
human suffering has been viewed with such peculiar in
difference. Nearly the whole nation seemed delighted
with the discredited census of 1870 because it was thought
to show that the Negroes were dying off rapidly, and the
country would soon be well rid of them. So, recently,
when attention has been called to the high death rate of
this race, there is a disposition among many to conclude
that the rate is abnormal and unprecedented, and that,
since the race is doomed to early extinction, there is little
left to do but to moralize on inferior species.
Now the fact is, as every student of statistics knows,
that considering the present advancement of the masses of
the Negroes, the death rate is not higher than one would
expect; moreover there is not a civilized nation to-day
which has not in the last two centuries presented a death
rate which equaled or surpassed that of this race. That
the Negro death rate at present is anything that threatens
the extinction of the race is either the bugbear of the un
trained, or the wish of the timid.
What the Negro death rate indicates is how far this race
is behind the great vigorous, cultivated race about it. It
should then act as a spur for increased effort and sound
upbuilding, and not as an excuse for passive indifference,
or increased discrimination.
7 Dr. Dudley Pemberton before tlie State Homeopathic Medical
Society, Philadelphia Ledger^ October i, 1896.
CHAPTER XL
THE NEGRO FAMILY.
27. The Size of the Family. There were in the
Seventh Ward, in 1896, 7751 members of families (includ
ing 171 persons living alone), and 1924 single lodgers. 1
The average size of the family, without lodgers and
boarders, was 3.18.
FAMILIES ACCORDING TO SIZE.
Number in Family-
Number
of
Families.
Per Cent of
Different
Size
Families.
Members
of
Families.
One . .
iyi
7.0
171
Two
1,031
42.2
2,062
Three
47
1,410
pour
*27
1 AA
1,308
133
\ 44-3
915
Six . .
106
J
636
76
532
Eight -
28
i
224
Nine .
25
\ 5-8
225
Ten . . . . - ...
13
J
130
2
22
Twelve
4
1
48
3
[ 0.7
39
i
1
14
Fifteen
i
J
15
Total
2,441
ICO
7,751
I.Q24.
Total population .
*7
9,675
-i 18
Average size of family, including single
lodgers ....
3.96
Average size of census family
5-08
With the whole population of the ward included, the
average size was about four, and counting married and
* Families who were lodging and there were many were counted as
families, not as lodgers. They were mostly young couples with one or
no children. The lodgers were not counted with the families because of
their large numbers, and the shifting of many of them from month to
month.
(164)
Sect. 27.] The Size of the Family. 165
single lodgers as part of the renting family, the average
size is about five. 2 In any case the smallness of the
families is remarkable, and is probably due to local
causes in the ward, to the general situation in the city
and to development in the race at large. The Seventh
Ward is a ward of lodgers and casual sojourn ers ; newly
married couples settle down here until they are compelled,
by the appearance of children, to move into homes of their
own, and these in later years are being chosen in the
Twenty-sixth, Thirtieth and Thirty-sixth wards, and up
town. Some couples leave their families in the South
with grandmothers and live in lodgings here, returning to
Virginia or Maryland only temporarily in summer or win
ter ; a good many men come here from elsewhere, live as
lodgers and support families in the country ; then, too,
childless couples often work out, the woman at service and
the man lodging in this ward ; the woman joins her
husband once or twice a week, but does not lodge regularly
there, and so is not a resident of the ward ; such are the
local conditions that affect greatly the size of families. 3
The size of families in cities is nearly always smaller
than elsewhere, and the Negro family follows this rule ;
late marriages among them undoubtedly act as a check to
population; moreover, the economic stress is so great
that only the small family can survive ; the large fami
lies are either kept from coming to the city or move
away, or, as is most common, send the breadwinners to the
city while they stay in the country. It is of course but
2 This figure is obtained by dividing the total population of the ward
by the number of homes directly rented, viz., 1675. There is an error
here arising from the fact that some sub-renting families are really
lodgers and should be coiinted with the census family, while others are
partially separate families and some wholly separate. This error can
not be eliminated.
8 The excessive infant mortality also has its influence on the average
size of families. Cf. Chapter X. Whether infanticide or feticide is preva
lent to any extent there are no means of knowing. Once in a while such
a case finds its way to the courts.
i66
The Negro Family.
[Chap. XL
conjecture to say how far these causes are working among
the general Negro population of the country ; but consid
ering that the whole race has to-day begun its great battle
for economic survival, and that few of the better class,
male or female, can expect to get married early in life, it
is fair to expect that for several decades to come the aver
age size of the Negro family will decrease until economic
well-being can keep pace with the demands of a rising
standard of living ; and that then we shall have another
era of good-sized though not very large Negro families. 4
As has before been intimated, the difficulty of earning
income enough to afford to marry, has had its ill effects on
the sexual morality of city Negroes, especially, too, since
their hereditary training in this respect has been lax. It
is, therefore, fair to conclude that a number of the fami
lies of two are simply more or less permanent cohabita
tions ; and that a large number of families are centres of
irregular sexual intercourse. Observation in the ward
bears out this conclusion, and shows that fifty-eight of the
families of two were certainly unmarried persons.
The result of all these causes is shown in the following
table, although the comparison is not strictly allowable;
the real family of the Negroes is compared with the census
family of other groups, and this exaggerates the proportion
of the smaller families among the Negroes :
Number in Family.
Negroes
Seventh
Ward.
Whole
Popula
tion of
City.
Brookl'n,
N. Y.
United
States.
One ....
%
%
T nr
%
2 TV
7 \
3n1
Two * .
7.O
1.91
7 1
3
OT wo to six . . ....
42.2
O c
* *
fjQ ~PJ
. . .
Seven to ten
74.O7
7^-37
T7 C*2
73-33
s)r\ r\fj
Eleven and over . .
5-
*7-53
^0.97
0.7
2 -33
J *39
2.O7
4 During the last ten years I have been bidden to a dozen or more wed
dings among the better class of Negroes. In no case was the bridegroom
under 30, or the bride under 20. In most cases the man was about 35,
and the woman 25 or more.
Sect. 27.] The Size of the Family. 167
Further comparison with France may be made : 5
Number in Family.
Negroes
Seventh
Ward.
France.
One
*7 O
14. o
Two to three ...
61 v
AI 3
Four to five
2O Q
2Q 8
Six or more
*2
10 6
TA J
^O
Making allowance for the errors of this comparison, it
nevertheless seems true that the conditions of family life
in the ward are abnormal and characterized by an unusu
ally large number of families of two persons.
There are no statistics for the Negro families of the
whole city such as would serve to eliminate the local
peculiarities of the Seventh Ward. General observation
would indicate in the Fifth and Eighth wards similar con
ditions to the Seventh. In most of the other wards condi
tions are different, and in all probability vary widely from
these crowded central wards. Nevertheless, throughout all
of them large families are not the rule, the number of
bachelors and lodgers is considerable, and there is some
cohabitation, although this is, in the city at large, much
less prevalent than in the Seventh Ward. It would seem,
therefore, that the indications of our study of conjugal
5 The figures relative to other groups of city Negroes as collected by
the conference at Atlanta University are as follows:
(0
H
w"
8
8
H
H
^ .
H
H
g
3 fc
H g
d OJ
O
D(
i
3*
g
^
tt
&
<
55
^
B
1-1
o
x
6.79
2.04
5.10
4.69
4.75
2.
20.06
17.89
25.51
17.91
19.17
2-6
79-63
82.10
83.68
78.04
79.85
7-10
13.58
15.45
11.22
17.06
15.22
TI and
Over.
.41
.21
.18
These figures apply to only 1137 families in the above named and other
cities. Cf. " U. S. Bulletin of Labor, 1 * May, 1897.
168 The Negro Family. [Chap. XL
condition were here emphasized, and that the Negro urban
home has commenced a revolution which will either purify
and raise it or more thoroughly debauch it than now ; and
that the determining factor is economic opportunity. The
full picture of this change demands statistics of births and
marriages from year to year. These unfortunately are not
so registered as to be even partially reliable. Both the
birth and marriage rate, however, are in all probability
steadily decreasing. 6 The death rate also comes in here
as a factor, not only by reason of the great infant mortality
but also on account of the excessive death rate of the men.
In all this one catches a faint glimpse of the intricacy and
far-reaching influence of the Negro problems.
28. Incomes. The economic problem of the Negroes
of the city has been repeatedly referred to. We now come
directly to the question, What do Negroes earn? In a
year about what is the income of an average family ?
Such a question is difficult to answer with anything like
accuracy. Only returns based on actual written accounts
would furnish thoroughly reliable statistics ; such accounts
cannot be had in this case. The few that keep accounts
would in many cases naturally be unwilling to produce
them. On the other hand, the great mass of people in the
6 The birth rate for the city is given in official returns as follows:
1894. Total for city : males, 16,185; females, 14,552. Negroes: males,
536; females, 476.
1895. Total for city: males, 15,618; females, 14,220. Negroes: males,
568; females, 524.
1896. Total for city: males, 15,534; females, 14,219. Negroes: males,
572; females 514.
Average per year for whites, 29,013.
Average per year for Negroes, 1,063.
White birth rate, 27.2 per thousand.
Negro birth rate, 25. 1 per thousand.
Assuming white population as 1,066,985.
Assuming Negro population as 41,500.
The Department of Health declares these returns considerably below
the truth, and the omissions among Negroes are of course large. Never
theless, the Negro birth rate in Philadelphia is probably not high.
Sect. 28.] Incomes. 169
lower walks of life scarcely know how much they earn in
a year. The tables here presented, therefore, must be
regarded simply as careful estimates. These estimates are
based on three or more of the following items : (i) The
statement of the family as to their earnings. Some of the
better class gave a general estimate of their average yearly
income ; most gave the wages earned per week or month
at their usual occupation. (2) The occupations followed
by the several members of the family ; (3) the time lost
from work in the last year or the time usually lost ; (4) the
apparent circumstances of the family judging from the
appearance of the home and inmates, the rent paid, the
presence of lodgers, etc.
In most cases the first item was given the greatest weight
in settling the matter, but was modified by the others; in
other cases, however, either this statement could not be ob
tained or was vague, and in a few instances evidently false.
In such circumstances the second item was decisive : the
occupations followed by the mass of Negroes are paid
according to a pretty well-known scale of prices ; a hotel
waiter's income could be pretty accurately fixed without
further data. The third item was important in many
occupations ; stevedores, for instance, receive generally
twenty cents per hour ; nevertheless, few if any earn $600
a year, because they lose much time between ships and in
winter. Finally, as a general corrective to deception or
inadvertence the circumstances of home life as seen by the
investigator on his visit, the rent paid an item which
could be pretty accurately ascertained the number of
lodgers, the occupation of the housewife and children all
these items served to confirm or throw doubt on the con
clusions indicated by the other data, and were given some
weight in the final judgment.
Thus it can easily be seen that these returns may contain,
and probably do contain, considerable error. On the one
hand they cannot be as accurate as returns based on income
170
The Negro Family.
[Chap. XL
tax reports, and on the other hand they are probably more
reliable than data founded solely on the bare statements of
those asked. The personal judgment of the investigator
enters into the determination of the figures to a larger
extent than is desirable, and yet it has been limited as
carefully as the nature of the inquiry permitted. 7
The income according to size of family is indicated in the
next table. From this, making the standard a family of five,
INCOMES, ACCORDING TO SIZE OF FAMILY IN SEVENTH WARD, 1896.
Amount of Income per Year.
Size of Family.
Total Num
ber of
Families.
i.
2.
3.
4.
5-
6.
7-
8.
9-
10.
ii
to
is-
* r
7
22
31
23
32
IO
9
4
i
7
i
i
3
i
2
15
18
69
105
95
108
121
95
79
H5
23
17
45
10
23
7
3
5
3 6
67
i
2
19
35
46
49
46
39
40
47
12
J 4
26
3
l
4
,;
;?
T
14
45
133
187
214
213
230
209
172
256
55
54
125
63
94
40
12
46
65
110
55
IOO .
2
4
12
26
33
30
34
26
37
8
8
27
12
16
7
i
8
i
J
6
I
6
8
7
9
ii
22
14
26
4
7
II
9
13
3
3
3
4
1
2
of
T en ....
4
4
i
3
10
9
7
17
4
3
7
5
7
2
I
3
7
5
2
unk
2OO ....
2*O
5
i
2
6
3
i
i
3
4
6
9
2
4
5
6
IO
i
no-w
2
I
I
3
o
2
3
3
i
2
9
2
3
m s
i
2
3
i
i
2
I
2
I
I
5
2
ze .
I
I
3
3
4
I
I
I
I
I
I
5
oo
AOQ
jlcn
<oo
SCO
600
6^0 .......
7OO
7 CQ , . .
800 .... ...
8?O
IOOO-I2OO
I2OOI5OO . ....
1500 and over . ...
Unknown . . .
Unknown
and making some allowance for larger and smaller families,
we can conclude that 19 per cent of the Negro families in
the Seventh Ward earn five dollars and less per week on
the average ; 48 per cent earn between $5 and $10 ; 26 per
7 There were many families who were undoubtedly tempted to exag
gerate their income so as to appear better off than they were; others, on
the contrary, understated their resources. In most cases, however, the
testimony so far as it went appeared to be candid and honest.
Sect. 28.]
Incomes.
171
cent, $io-$i5, and 8 per cent over $15 per week. Tabu
lating this we have :
It is difficult to compare this with other groups because
of the varying meaning of the terms poor, well-to-do, and
the like* Nevertheless, a comparison with Booth's diagram
of London will, if not carried too far, be interesting: 8
POVERTY IN LONDON AND AMONG THE NEGROES OF THE SEVENTH
WARD OF PHII^ADELPHIA.
8.4% 8.9%
O LONDON VERY POOR
HtOROCS VERY POOR
ZTHYtARD
5L5%e$.5% 17.8% 8.E54
POOR COMFORTABLE MIDDLE CLASS-fcABOVE
POOR TO FAIR COMFORTABUt GOOD CIRCUMSTANCES
*Cf. Booth's " Life and Labor of the People/' II, 21. In this case I
The Negro Family. [Chap XI.
The chief difficulty of this comparison lies in the dis
tribution of the population between the "poor" and "com
fortable ;" probably the former class among the Negroes is
here somewhat exaggerated. At any rate, the division
between these two grades is in the Seventh Ward much
less stable than in London since their economic status is
less fixed. In good times perhaps 50 per cent of the
Negroes could well be designated comfortable, but in
time of financial stress vast numbers of this class fall
below the line into the poor and go to swell the number of
paupers, and in many cases of criminals. Indeed this
whole division into incomes of different classes is, among
the Negroes, much less stable than among the whites, just
as it used to be less stable among the whites of fifty years
ago than it is among those of to-day.
The whole division into "poor," "comfortable" and
" well-to-do n depends primarily on the standard of living
among a people. Let us, therefore, note something of the
income and expenditure of certain families in different
grades. 9 The very poor and semi-criminal class are con
gregated in the slums at Seventh and Lombard Streets,
Seventeenth and Lombard, and Eighteenth and Naudain,
together with other small back streets scattered over the
ward. They live in one- and two-room tenements, scantily
furnished and poorly lighted and heated ; they get casual
labor, and the women do washing. The children go to
school irregularly or loaf on the streets. This class does
not frequent the large Negro churches, but part of them
fill the small noisy missions. The vicious and criminal
have combined Booth's two lower classes, ** lowest " and " very poor." I
shall discuss the criminal and lowest class in Chapters XIII and XIV.
The separation of the "poor" and "very poor" in the Seventh Ward is
somewhat arbitrary. I have called all those receiving $ 150 and less a
year " very poor."
9 Only a few reliable budgets are subjoined, and they are typical. A
large number might have been gathered, but they would hardly have
added much to these.
Sect. 28.] Incomes. 173
portion do not usually go to church. Those of this class
who are poor but decent are next-door neighbors usually
to pronounced criminals and prostitutes. The income and
expenditure of some of these families follow.
Family No. i lives in one of the worst streets of the
ward, surrounded by thieves and prostitutes. There are
three persons in the family: a woman of thirty-four, with
a son of sixteen and a second husband of twenty-six. Both
the husband and son are out of work, the former being a
waiter and the latter a bootblack. They live in one filthy
room, twelve feet by fourteen, scantily furnished and
poorly ventilated. The woman works at service and
receives about three dollars a week. They pay twelve dol
lars a month for three rooms, and sub-rent two of them to
other families, which makes their rent about three dollars.
Their food costs them about $1.00 a week and the fuel
56 cents a week during the winter. Their expenditure for
other items is varying and indefinite ; beer, however,
comes in for something. Their whole expenditure is
probably $125-$! 50 a year, of which the woman earns at
least $100.
Family No. a has a yearly budget as follows for two
persons :
Rent, @ $4 a month ........ ..... , . $48.00
Food Bread, pork, tea, etc., @ $1.440. week ... 74.88
Fuel, 20-47 cents a week ............. 16.60
Other items would bring this up to about $150 to $175.
Family No. 3, consisting of one person, reports the fol
lowing budget, not including rent :
Food ........ . ....... . ...... $30.00
Fuel ...... . ................ 15-00
Clothing .................... . 10. oo
Amusements ................... 1.50
Sickness, etc ..... .............. 10.00
Other purposes ............... ... 15- oo
Total, per year ....... . ....... $81.50
174 The Negro Family. [Chap. XL
The rent of such a family would not exceed $40, mak
ing the total expenditure about $121.50.
Family No. 4 four persons man and wife and two
babies, living in one room, spend as follows :
Rent, @ $3 a month $36.00
Food Weekly: milk |b .28
pork ,70
bread ^35
1.33 69.16
Fuel, 20-98 cents a week 18.00
{123.16
The man has work one and one-half weeks in the month
as a wire fence maker, when regularly employed, which is
about half the time. The rest of the time he takes care
of the babies while his wife works at service. The last two
families seem respectable, but unfortunate. The other two
are doubtful.
The " poor " are a degree above these cases ; they are
composed of the inefficient, unfortunate and improvident,
and just manage to get enough to eat, a little to wear, and
shelter. A specimen family is composed of six persons
man and wife, a widowed daughter, two grandsons of
thirteen and eleven, and a nephew of twenty-eight They
live in three rooms, with poor furniture and of fair clean
liness. The father and nephew are laborers, often out of
work. The mother does day's work and the daughter is at
service. They spend for :
Rent $8 per month $ 96.00
Food $2.16 a week 112.32
Fuel 50-84 cents a week ....-- 31.20
#239,52
Clothing, etc., will bring this total to $250-^275. This
is an honest family, belonging to one of the large Baptist
churches.
Sect. 28.] Incomes. 175
Family No. 5, a mother and child, expends for
Food $ 96.00
Fuel 30.00
Clothing 30,00
Amusements 10.00
Sickness 15.00
Other purposes 25 . oo
Total $206.00
To this must be added house-rent, bringing the total to
$250 or $275.
We next come to the great hard-working laboring class
the 47 per cent of the population which is, on the whole,
most truly representative of the mass. They live in houses
with three to six rooms, nearly always well furnished ;
they spend considerable for food and dress, and for churches
and beneficial societies. They are honest and good-natured
for the most part, but are not used to large responsibility.
No. 6, a family of three from this class man, wife and
seventeen-year-old son earn and spend as follows :
INCOME.
Man hod-carrier and la
borer, $i.25-$2.oo a day
casual averages $3 . oo a
week $150.00
Wife washerwoman, Oct.
to Mch., earns $5.00 to
#6.00 a week, rest of year
$i. 5o~$2. oo, average, $3. 50, 180.00
Son porter in office build
ing, $2.50 per week and
board 6 days 125 .00
$455-00
This family occupies a seven-room house, but rents out
three of the rooms to lodgers. They have a nicely fur
nished parlor.
EXPENSE.
Rent, $22,00 a month, of
which $14. oo is repaid by
lodgers net rent, $8.00 $96.00
Food $3.5O-$4.oo a week 190.00
Fuel . 35,oo
$321.00
Clothing and all other pur
poses, and savings . . . 134.00
176
Negro Family.
[Chap. XI.
Three other families of the same class follow :
No. 7. Expenditure for one year, $338 (not including
rent). Number in family, adults 2, chidren 2.
Food $110.00
Fuel 40.00
Clothing 50.00
Amusements 35 ,00
Sickness 40*00
Other purposes 63.00
No. 8, EXPENDITURE: FOR ONE YEAR, $520.00.
Number in Family ', Adults j, Children 2.
Expenditure for
Weekly.
Monthly.
>
Expenditure for
(A
I
Monthly.
j>
"C
en
V
r*
Rent
16-00
$192.00
Amusements
Food
$4 oo
16.00
192.00
Sickness and d'th
IOOO
Fuel
^4 -OO
All other purposes
OO-OO
*
No. 9. EXPENDITURE FOR ONE YEAR, ABOUT $600.00.
Number in Family, Adults 2, Children 7.
^
.c
Expenditure for
1
Expenditure for
1
c
1
Rent
Food
$20*00
200.00
240.00
Clothing
All other purposes
....
5-00
60.00
$28*00
Fuel
1.50
0.00
72 OO
Three other budgets are appended, representing a still
better class :
No. 10.
Total income, $840.00.
Rent $192.00
Food 260,00
Fuel 50,00
Clothing 25.00
Amusements 15. oo
$542.00
This Is a small family mother and daughter who are
evidently saving money. The daughter is a teacher.
Sect. 28.] Incomes. 177
No. ii. Total expenditure, exclusive of rent, $683.
378.00
Fuel ...................... 45.00
Clothing ..................... 100.00
Amusements ................... 20-00
Sickness ..................... 50.00
Other purposes ............ ..... 90*00
There are four adults and three children in this family.
No. 12. Total expenditure, exclusive of rent,
Food $420.00
Fuel 60.00
Clothing 150.00
Amusements . 20.00
Sickness 5.00
Travel, and other purposes 150.00
This Is one of the best families in the city; they keep
one servant There are three adults and two children in
the family.
The class to which these last families belong is often
lost sight of in discussing the Negro. It is the germ of a
great middle class, but in general its members are curiously
hampered by the fact that, being shut off from the world
about them, they are the aristocracy of their own people,
with all the responsibilities of an aristocracy, and yet they,
on the one hand, are not prepared for this r61e, and their
own masses are not used to looking to them for leadership.
As a class they feel strongly the centrifugal forces of class
repulsion among their own people, and, indeed, are com
pelled to feel it in sheer self-defence. They do not relish
being mistaken for servants ; they shrink from the free and
easy worship of most of the Negro churches, and they
shrink from all such display and publicity as will expose
them to the veiled insult and depreciation which the
masses suffer. Consequently this class, which ought to
lead, refuses to head any race movement on the plea that
thus they draw the very color line against which they
protest. On the other hand their ability to stand
178 The Negro Family. [Chap. XL
apart, refusing on the one hand all responsibility for the
masses of the Negroes and on the other hand seeking no
recognition from the outside world, which is not willingly
accorded their opportunity to take such a stand is hin
dered by their small economic resources. Even more than
the rest of the race they feel the difficulty of getting on in
the world by reason of their small opportunities for remu
nerative and respectable work. On the other hand their
position as the richest of their race though their riches
are insignificant compared with their white neighbors
makes unusual social demands upon them. A white Phila-
delphian with $1500 a year can call himself poor and live
simply. A Negro with $1500 a year ranks with the richest
of his race and must usually spend more in proportion than
his white neighbor in rent, dress and entertainment
In every class thus reviewed there comes to the front a
central problem of expenditure. Probably few poor
nations waste more money by thoughtless and unreason
able expenditure than the American Negro, and especially
those living in large cities like Philadelphia. First, they
waste much money in poor food and in unhealthful methods
of cooking. The meat bill of the average Negro family
would surprise a French or German peasant or even an
Englishman. The crowds that line Lombard street on
Sundays are dressed far beyond their means ; much money
is wasted in extravagantly furnished parlors, dining-rooms,
guest chambers and other visible parts of the homes.
Thousands of dollars are annually wasted in excessive
rents, in doubtful " societies " of all kinds and descriptions,
in amusements of various kinds, and in miscellaneous
ornaments and gewgaws. All this is a natural heritage of
a slave system, but it is not the less a matter of serious
import to a people in such economic stress as Negroes now
are. The Negro has much to learn of the Jew and Italian,
as to living within his means and saving every penny from
excessive and wasteful expenditures.
Sect 29.] Property. 179
29. Property. We must next inquire what part of these
incomes have been turned into real property. Philadelphia
keeps no separate account of her white and Negro real
estate owners and it is very difficult to get reliable data on
the subject. Even the house-to-house inquiry could but
approximate the truth on account of the number of houses
owned by Negroes but rented out through white real estate
agents. From the returns it appears that 123 of the 2441
families in the Seventh Ward or 5.3 per cent own property
in that ward; seventy-four other families own property
outside the ward, making in all 197 or 8 per cent of the
families who are property holders. It is possible that
omissions may raise this total to 10 per cent. The total
value of this property is partly conjectural but a careful
estimate would place it at about $1,000,000, or 4^ per
cent of the valuation of a ward where the Negroes form
42 per cent of the population.
Two estimates for the whole city represent the holdings
of the well-to-do Negroes, that is, those having $10,000
and more of property, as follows : 10
From $ 10,000 to $ 15,000 27
" 15,000 to 25,000 10
" 25,000 to 50,000 ii
" 50,000 to 100,000 . 4
" 100,000 to 500,000 i
53
In all, these persons represent an ownership of at least
$1,500,000. The other property holders can only be
estimated ; the total ownership of property by Philadelphia
Negroes must be at least five millions, not including
10 These estimates are by lifelong residents of Philadelphia, who have
had unusual opportunity of knowing the men of whom they speak. One
says, " I have . . . prepared an estimate which I herein enclose. I
have endeavored to be as conservative as possible. There are, doubtless,
several omitted because they are not known, or if known are not now
thought of; but I believe the estimate is approximately correct."
i8o The Negro Family. [Chap. XL
church property. Comparing this with estimates in the
past, we have : n
1821, real estate, assessed value, $r 12,464; real value, $281,162
1832,
1838, " "
1848, (< "
1855, real and personal estate
357,000
322,532
53 r >&>9
2,685,693
5,000,000
In 1849 tk e returns of the investigation showed that 7.4
per cent of the Negroes in the county owned property,
and 5.5 per cent in the city proper, compared with 5.3 per
11 The figures for 1821 are from assessors 5 reports, quoted in the investi
gation of 1838. The figures for 1832 are from a memorial to the legisla
ture, in which the Negroes say that by reference to the receipts of tax
payers which were "actually produced/' they paid at least $2500 in taxes,
and had also $100,000 in church property. From this the inquiry of 1838
estimates that they owned $357,000 outside church property. The same
study estimates the property of Negroes in 1838 as follows:
Real Estate (true value). Personal Property.
City $241,962 $505,322
Northern Liberties 26,700 35,539
Kensington 2,255 3,825
Spring Garden 5,935 21,570
Southwark I5>355 26,848
Moyamensing 30,325 74,755
$322,532 $667,859
Encumbrances 12,906
$309,626
The report says; " This amount must, of course, be received as only an
approximation of the truth." Fifteen church edifices, a cemetery and
hall are not included in the above. l * Condition," etc., 1838. pp. 7, 8.
The investigation in 1847-48, gave the following results:
Value Real Estate, Encumbrances.
City $368,842 $78,421
Spring Garden , % 27,150 11,050
Northern liberties 40,675 13,440
Southwark 3^544 5,9*5
Moyamensing 51,973 20,216
West Philadelphia 11,625 1,400
9 $130,442
Sect. 29.]
Property.
181
cent in the Seventh Ward to-day. In this comparison,
however, we must consider the enormous increase in the
value of Philadelphia real estate.
This property was distributed as follows:
WHOLE NtrM-
BER HEADS OF
FAMILIES.
OWNERS OF
REAL ESTATE.
PER CSNT.
City
2562
141
5.5
Spring Garden
272
44
16.1
202
2^
II. *
Southwark. . ,
28?
^O
10.4
Moyatnensing
866
52
6.0
West Philadelphia
73
25
34-4
4262
315
7-4
The occupations of the 315 freeholders was as follows:
78 laborers.
49 traders.
41 mechanics.
35 coachmen and hackmen.
28 waiters.
20 barbers,
ii professional men.
53 females.
315
The personal property was as follows:
<
Jx*
SPRING
GARDEN.
NORTHERN
I/IBERTIES.
!
K
I
MOYAMBNBINO
WEST
PHILADELPHIA.
TOTAL.
Under $25.
$25-^50.
$5o-$ioo.
$ioo-$50o.
J500-$20,000.
No Estate.
570
772
404
650
156
6
66
%
19
62
102
63
83
5
102
2
259
160
134
291
5
15
16
9
42
I
Total perso
nal property.
Average.
$455,^2^
$178.63
$9>5$2
147-33
#34,044
$108.07
feo,4Q2
$105.30
$90553
$106,63
$12,065
$151-57
$632,246
$147-52
"Statistical Inquiry'/ etc., p. 15.
1 82 The Negro Family. [Chap. XI.
Taking the heads of the 123 families known to live in
the Seventh Ward and to own real estate we find that they
were born as follows :
Philadelphia . 41 41 = 33^ per cent.
Pennsylvania 7 "
Maryland 22
Virginia 21
South 13
Delaware and New Jersey .... 8
Other parts of United States and
abroad 7
Unknown 4 -
123
- 82 = 66% per cent.
A comparison between 1838 and 1848 was made by Needles' " Pro
gress." etc., pp. 8, 9.
& 1837. 1847. Increase.
Real estate, less incumbrances . $309,626 $401,362 $9 I >736
House and water rents .... 161,482 200,697 39.225
Taxes 3,253 6,308 3,056
The Inquiry of 1856, pp. 15, 16, declares that the previous year the
Negroes owned;
Real and personal property (true value) 12,685,693.00
Taxes paid 9,766.42
House, water and ground rent 396,782.27
A detailed estimate for 1897 gives the following:
Value of Estate. Number of Estates. Total.
$250,000-^500,000 I .. .,. $35O,OOO
100,000 . . I ..-... 100,000
8o,OOO I .*. = ... 8o,OOO
75,ooo i ... = ... 75,000
60,000 I .. = ... 60,000
40,000 4 ... = ... 160,000
35>ooo 3 ...=... 105,000
30,000 4 ... = ... 120,000
20,000 10 ... = ... 200,000
15,000 ii ... = ... 165,000
10,000 16 ... = ... 160,000
52 $1,575,000
The total of $1,575,000 is the estimated wealth of the well-to-do.
This estimate is as reliable as can be obtained, and is probably not far
from the real facts.
Sect. 29.]
Property,
The eighty-two not born in Philadelphia have lived there
as follows :
Over 2 and under 10 years c
10 to 14 years
15 to 19 "
20 to 24 "
25 to 29 "
30 to 34 "
35 to 39 "
40 to 44 "
45 to 49 "
50 to 54 "
60 years and over
Unknown 4
82
Nineteen have lived less than twenty years in the city
and fifty-nine, twenty years or more.
The occupations of the 123 property owners were as
follows :
Caterers 22
Waiters 12
Porters and Janitors 10
Housewives 9
Laundresses 8
Mechanics 7
Coachmen 6
Clerks in public service .... 4
Drivers and teamsters .... 4
Upholsterers 3
Employment agents 3
Merchants 3
Stewards 3
Ministers 3
Hod-carriers and laborers ... 2
Policemen and watchmen . . 2
Hotel keepers and restaura
teurs 3
Cooks . 2
Undertakers 2
School-teachers 2
Barbers 2
Physicians 2
Shrouder of dead i
Newspaper publisher ..... i
Real estate dealer i
Sexton i
No occupation . * 3
Unknown 2
123
This shows that the real estate owners are either Phila
delphia born or old residents and that the mass of them
are caterers and house servants, with a sprinkling of those
representing the newer employments as clerks in public
service, merchants, and the like.
1 84 The Negro Family. [Chap. XL
Of these one hundred and twenty-three families
62 own the houses they occupy.
20 own the houses they occupy, and also other real estate in
the city.
7 own the houses they occupy, own other real estate in the
city, and also own real estate elsewhere.
5 own homes outside the city, and other real estate else
where.
22 own real estate in the city.
7 own real estate in the city and elsewhere also.
In other words, 89 own homes in the city, and 34 own
real estate somewhere.
Returns from forty of these holders indicate a total hold
ing of $250,000, or if we add in one large estate, $650,000.
Other less definite but fairly reliable returns raise the total
ownership of property in the Seventh Ward to $1,000,000
or more. Sixty-three of the seventy-four owning property
outside the city report $49,010 in real estate. 12 In none
of these returns has there been any account of the mort
gage indebtedness taken, nor is there any means of ascer
taining this debt 13
On the whole the statistics show comparatively few
Negro property holders in Philadelphia. In a city where
the percentage of home owners is unusually large, over 94
per cent of the Negroes appear from the imperfect returns
available to be renters. There are several reasons for this :
first, the Negroes distrust all saving institutions since
the fatal collapse of the Preedrnen's Bank ; secondly, they
have difficulty in buying homes in decent neighborhoods ;
thirdly, the rising price of real estate, and the falling off of
wage and industrial opportunity for the Negro must be
taken into account Finally a curious effect of color
14 There is more property than this owned, but only the answers that
seemed reliable and definite were recorded. Most of this property is in
the country districts of the South.
13 Many efforts were made to get official data on the matter of property,
but the authorities had no way of even approximately distinguishing the
races.
Sect 29.] Property. 185
prejudice, to be discussed later, has had enormous influence
in concentrating Negro population in localities where it was
hard to buy homes. All these are cogent reasons, and yet
they are not enough to excuse the Negroes from not buying
much more property than they have. Much of the money
that should have gone into homes has gone into costly
church edifices, dues to societies, dress and entertainment.
If the Negroes had bought little homes as persistently as
they have worked to develop a church and secret society
system, and had invested more of their earnings in savings-
banks and less in clothes they would be in a far better
condition to demand industrial opportunity than they are
to-day.
This does not mean that the Negro is lazy or a spend
thrift ; it simply means misdirected energies which cause
the Negro people yearly to waste thousands of dollars in
rents and live in poor homes when they might with proper
foresight do much better.
There are some signs of awakening to this fact among
the Negroes. Lately they are just beginning to understand
and profit by the Building and Loan Associations. Forty-
one families in the Seventh Ward, or about 2 per cent,
belong now to such associations and the number is increas
ing. Outside the Seventh Ward as large and probably a
larger percentage belong to co-operative home -buying
societies. The peculiar phenomenon among the colored
people, however, is the wide development of beneficial and
secret orders. Three hundred and six families, or 17 per
cent of the Negroes of the ward, are reported as belonging
to beneficial societies and probably 25 per cent or more
actually belong. Beside these there are the petty insurance
societies, to which 1021 families or 42 per cent belong.
In more prosperous times this membership may reach 50 or
60 per cent or a total of at least 4000 men, women and
children. The beneficial and secret societies, being organ
izations of Negroes, will be spoken of later. The petty
i86
The Negro Family.
[Chap. XL
insurance societies are for the most part conducted by
whites. Some of these are reliable enterprises, and by
careful management and honest dealing do something to
encourage the saving spirit among the Negroes. It is
doubtful, however, if they form the best kind of incentive,
and probably they stand in the way of the savings-bank
and building association. Only a few deserve this quali
fied approval. The large majority are little better than
licensed gambling operations ; it is a disgrace that a great
municipality allows them to prey upon the people in the
manner they do. 14 They usually rest on no sound business
principles ; they take any and all risks, generally without
medical examination and depend on lapses in payments
and bold cheating to make money. Even the best conducted
of these societies have to depend on the unreturned contribu
tions of persons who cannot keep up their payments, to
make both ends meet.
There were in 1897 thirty-one insurance societies doing
business in the Seventh Ward. The following table gives
the weekly premiums required for sick and death benefits
in one society :
RATES AND DEATH BENEFITS.
Weekly Dties for Benefits Payable at Death only.
Age.
$100
Benefit.
$200
Benefit.
T2-I 1 * .
$0.04
$0.07
.05
.09
.06
.11
7
.13
.08
.15
.10
.18
jfc-co . . . ........
.12
.2^1
CQ-C7 ..,.........-.
,14
.26
M-cr
.15
.28
CC~c8 ......
.18
.^5
58-60
.20
-39
u For an account of a partial investigation of this subject and some
attempts at reform, see "Report of Citizens* Permanent Relief Committee,
etc, , 1893-4," pp. 31, ff. Cf. Also the work of the Star Kitchen at Seventh
and Lombard streets, Philadelphia.
Sect. 29.]
Property.
187
This is at the rate of $46.80 to $52 for a $1000 life
policy at the age of 43, which can be had in regular com
panies for about $35. The excess represents the expense
of collection and the gambler's risk.
SICKNESS AND ACCIDENT BENEFITS.
Weekly Dues for Specified Sums per Week.
Age next Birthday.
$4.00.
$5-oo.
#6.00.
17.00.
|8.oo.
$10.00.
12 20 . .
IO
T7
16
TO
22
oc
2O25
II
A o
I/J
T7
J -9
20
-27
^o
26
2^ "2.O
.12
1C
18
21
^O
2/t
27
so -ic . . ,
TA
17
20
07
26
2O
1C AQ
1C
18
21
A5
2jl
27
*9
20
JO A/i
.17
.20
.27,
26
2Q
o w
32
A-l-AZ
18
21
o/t
27
7O
77
45-A8
.IQ
.22
^4
25
.28
o u
^1
oo
.^4
43_CQ
2O
07
26
2Q
72
.ac
co ^7 . . .
22
2C
28
*y
7i
o^
7/1
3.7
53"~55
.2^
26
2Q
o 1
72
o4
.^5
.^8
55-58
.24
.27
,7O
.^A
.^7
.4.1
58-60
.28
31
34
37
.41
.44
Children Age, 2 to n years.
Amount payable to children after their certificates have been issued for
the following periods:
Three months, one-third; six months, one-half; nine months, three-
fourths; one year, full amount.
Death benefits, $40.
Weekly dues, 5 cents.
Upon payment of 10 cents weekly dues, children from six to eleven
years will be paid weekly sick benefits of $2.50.
Membership fee for children, 50 cents.
Membership fee for adults, $i.
Into these companies a large part of the income of many
families goes. For instance, let us examine the expendi
tures of certain actual families for such insurance, remem
bering that the total income of these families is in most
cases $20 to $40 a month.
Monthly.
1. A family of 2 adults and 2 children (stevedore) . . $3 . 29
2. A family of 2 adults have for 10 years paid .... I . oo
3. A family of 4 adults 2.20
4. A family of 4 adults 2.40
5. A family of i adult and i child 2-00
6. A family of 4 adults 1.84
1 88 The Negro Family. [Chap. XI.
Monthly.
7. A family of i adult $ 2 '57
8. A family of 2 adults (waiter) 2.20
9. A family of 2 adults (servant) " 1.5
10. A family of 5 adults and 2 children (laborer) . . . 3.00
11. A family of 2 adults and 3 children (stevedore) . . i .44
12. A family of 9 adults and i child 5-oo
13. A family of 8 adults and 4 children 4 . 2
14. A family of 9 adults 4,43
15. A family of 2 adults 2.50
1 6. A family of 2 adults (stevedore) 3-
17. A family of 2 adults (stevedore) 3,00
1 8. A family of 10 adults 8.50
19. A family of 2 adults, i child (stevedore) . . - . 5.00
20. A family of 5 adults, i child 5.
21. A family of 3 adults 3-9
22. A family of 4 adults, i child (laborer) 5,00
23. A family of 2 adults, 3 children (waiter) . ... 4,60
It is impossible to get accurate returns as to the total
amount spent by the Negroes of the Seventh Ward for in
surance in such societies, but answers to questions on this
point indicate a total expenditure of approximately $25,000
annually. For this enormous outlay something conies
back in the benefits, but probably much less than half.
The method of conducting these societies puts a premium
on dishonesty and misrepresentation and a tax on honesty
and health. A certain class of the insured get sick regu
larly and draw benefits and are winked at by the societies
as a paying advertisement on the street. Their honest
neighbors on the other hand will struggle on and work for
years, paying regularly in some cases five, ten and fifteen
or more years in various societies only to be cheated out
of their insurance by rascally agents, or conniving home
offices, or their own failure at the last moment to keep up
payments. Of course the sum involved is too small, and
the cheated persons too unknown and lowly to lead to liti
gation. Let us take some examples : 15
15 Once in a while the affairs of one of these companies are revealed to
the public, as for instance, the following noted in the Public Ledger \
Sect 29.] Property, 189
1. This family lost $100 paid in for insurance, by final
lapse in payments. The woman was sixty years old, and
poor.
2. This family belonged to the society ten years
and paid $12 a year. Finally fell seven days in arrears
with payments, and was dropped. Had received $65 in
benefits.
3. This family had paid in $50 ; was one day behind and
was dropped.
4. This family had a woman insured for $2.50 a week,
and $50 at death. She received no sick benefits at all,
October 20, 1896. The company became bankrupt, and its affairs were
found hopelessly involved.
" This was the scheme, according to the former agent and some of the
certificate holders. Upon the payment of ten cents a week for seven
years, the subscriber was promised $100, to be paid at the end of the
seventh year. In a year ten cents a week would amount to $5.20; in
seven years to $, 36.40. The Keystone Investment Company promised to
give |ioo for $36.40.
4 * Later the assessment was raised to fifteen cents a week. This would
amount in seven years to $54. 60, for which sum $100 was promised in
return . Some few of the certificate holders paid twenty cents a week, it
is said. This, in seven years, would amount to $72.80, for which sum,
according to the agreement, the certificate holder was to be paid $100.
" Just how many subscribers the company had it is impossible to leant
from the ofiicers. A gentleman, who has a store next door to the com
pany's office, said yesterday that a great many people went there each
week to pay their assessments. They appeared to be poor people, he
said. There were a great many Negroes among them, and some of them,
he said, came from New Jersey.
" The concern started in business in 1891, and has always occupied its
present quarters, which are very unpretentious, by the way, for a financial
company of any standing. A lady residing on Girard avenue, east of
Hanover street, yesterday related her experience with the company as
follows:
** *I invested in certificates for my mother and my little daughter,
paying fifteen cents a week on each. The agreement was that each was
to receive $100 at the end of seven years. I have been paying for my
little girl nearly three years, and for my mother nearly two years. It
will be two years next Christmas. The payments were made regu
larly. On both certificates I have paid in about $35,* '*
The Negro Family. [Chap. XI.
and only $20 at death. They said : " We stint ourselves
of our victuals to keep up and then lose it all."
5. A family who put $75 into a society and lost it all.
6. A mother was in the society two years. When
she was taken sick, she sent her child to notify them ; they
took no notice of this on the ground that the notification
by a child was not legal, and paid her nothing.
7. This man was a member of the society fifteen
years, and his wife seven years ; paid in $354 in all and
drew out $90 in benefits ; the society then " discovered "
that the man belonged to the G. A. R., and dropped him
and kept the money.
8. This man belonged to a society seven years, at $1.30
per month ; received $20 in benefits and lost the rest
through a lapse in payments.
9. This family belonged to different societies eight years
and lost all the money invested.
10. This person was a member of a society some time,
when the collector absconded with the money, and the so
ciety refused to bear the responsibility.
11. The mother had paid $54.60 to a society for a death
benefit, but at her death the society paid nothing.
12. The society collapsed and this person lost $75.
13. This family invested $1.23 a month with a society
for thirteen years in order to receive $200 endowment.
This was at the rate of $73.80 annually for a $1000 policy !
14. This man has paid in $88 so far, and has never re
ceived sick or other benefits.
15. This woman had belonged to a society for years and
was once taken sick just before the agent called. When
he came he was asked to return, as the sick woman was
asleep. He did not return, and when a claim for sick
benefits was made, it was denied on the ground that the
woman had not paid her dues when the agent called.
In many other cases the matter of age is made a loop
hole for cheating ; numbers of the Negroes do not know
Sect. 29.] Property. 191
their exact ages ; in such cases the insurance agent will
suggest an age, usually below the evident truth, and insert
it in the policy ; if the insured dies the physician guesses
at another age nearer the truth, and inserts it in the death
certificate. Thereupon the insurance company points to
the discrepancy, alleges an attempt to deceive on the part
of the insured, and either refuses to pay any of the policy
or generally offers to compound for a half or a third of the
amount promised. This is perhaps the most common form
of cheating outside the failure to account for the payments
of lapsed members. In some cases the home office pays
the death claim, and the local office or agent cheats the
insured.
Without doubt such societies meet outrageous attempts
at deception on the part of the insured ; and yet since their
methods of business put a premium on this sort of cheat
ing they can hardly complain. The whole business is
nothing more than gambling, where one set of sharpers bet
against another set, and the honest hard-working but
ignorant toilers pay the bill. 16 With all the harm that
open policy-playing and other sorts of gambling do, it is to
be doubted if their effects on character are more deleterious
than this form of insurance business. The Negroes by the
crime of the Preedmen's Bank have been long prejudiced
against banks, and this business encourages their aversion
to the slow, sure methods of saving. If the colored people
are ever to learn u forehandedness," in place of the slip
shod chance methods of living, the savings-bank must
soon replace the insurance society ; and that they could
support savings-banks in abundance is shown by the fact
* As before noted, I am aware that a few of these societies do not
wholly deserve this sweeping condemnation, and that all of them are
defended by certain short-sighted persons as encouraging savings. My
observation convinces me, however, of the substantial truth of my con
clusions. Of course, all this has nothing to do with the legitimate life
insurance business.
192 The Negro Family. [Chap. XI.
that they annually invest between $75,000 and $100,000
in insurance societies in the city of Philadelphia.
It is not generally known how lucrative a business the
exploitation of the Negro in various lines has become. In
ornaments, clothes, entertainments, books and investment
schemes, the shrewd and unscrupulous have a broad field
of work, and it is being industriously cultivated, especially
by whites and to some extent by certain classes of Negroes.
Instead then of a struggling people being met by aid in
the direction of their greatest weakness, they are sur
rounded by agencies which tend to make them more
wasteful and dependent on chance than they are now.
One has only to watch the pawn-brokers' shops on Satur
day night in winter to see how largely Negroes support
them ; and it is but a step from the insurance society to
the pawnshop and thence to the policy shop.
30. Family Life. Among the masses of the Negro
people in America the monogamic home is comparatively
a new institution, not more than two or three generations
old. The Africans were taken from polygamy and trans
planted into a plantation where the home life was pro
tected only by the caprice of the master, and practically
unregulated polygamy and polyandry was the result, on the
plantations of the West Indies. In States like Pennsyl
vania the marriage institution among slaves was early
established and maintained. Consequently one meets
among the Philadelphia Negroes the result of both
systems the looseness of plantation life and the strictness
of Quaker teaching. Among the lowest class of recent
immigrants and other unfortunates there is much sexual
promiscuity and the absence of a real home life. Actual
prostitution for gain is not as widespread as would at first
thought seem natural. On the other hand, there are two
widespread systems among the lowest classes, viz., tem
porary cohabitation and the support of men. Cohabitation
of a more or less permanent character is a direct offshoot
Sect. 30.] Family Life.
of the plantation life and is practiced considerably ; in
distinctly slum districts, like that at Seventh and Lom
bard, from 10 to 25 per cent of the unions are of this
nature. Some of them are simply common-law marriages
and are practically never broken. Others are compacts,
which last for two to ten years ; others for some months ;
in most of these cases the women are not prostitutes, but
rather ignorant and loose. In such cases there is, of course,
little home life, rather a sort of neighborhood life, center
ing in the alleys and on the sidewalks, where the children
are educated. Of the great mass of Negroes this class
forms a very small percentage and is absolutely with
out social standing. They are the dregs which indicate
the former history and the dangerous tendencies of the
masses. The system of supporting men is one common
among the prostitutes of all countries, and widespread
among the Negro women of the town. Two little colored
girls walking along South street stopped before a gaudy
pair of men's shoes displayed in a shop window, and one
said : " That's the kind of shoes I'd buy my fellow ! The
remark fixed their life history ; they were from among the
prostitutes of Middle Alley, or Ratcliffe street, or some
similar resort, where each woman supports some man from
the results of her gains. The majority of the well-dressed
loafers whom one sees on Locust street near Ninth, on Lom
bard near Seventh and Seventeenth, on Twelfth near Kater,
and in other such localities, are supported by prostitutes and
political largesse, and spend their time in gambling. They
are absolutely without home life, and form the most dan
gerous class in the community, both for crime and political
corruption.
Leaving the slums and coming to the great mass of the
Negro population we see undoubted effort has been made
to establish homes. Two great hindrances, however, cause
much mischief: the low wages of men and the high rents.
The low wages of men make it necessary for mothers to
194 The Negro Family. [Chap. XI.
work and in numbers of cases to work away from home sev
eral days in the week. This leaves the children without
guidance or restraint for the better part of the day a thing
disastrous to manners and morals. To this must be added
the result of high rents, namely, the lodging system. Who
ever wishes to live in the centre of Negro population, near
the great churches and near work, must pay high rent
for a decent house. This rent the average Negro family
cannot afford, and to get the house they sub-rent a part to
lodgers. As a a consequence, 38 per cent of the homes of
the Seventh Ward have unknown strangers admitted freely
into their doors. The result is, on the whole, pernicious,
especially where there are growing children. Moreover,
the tiny Philadelphia houses are ill suited to a lodging
system. The lodgers are often waiters, who are at home
between meals, at the very hours when the housewife is off
at work, and growing daughters are thus left unprotected.
In some cases, though this is less often, servant girls and
other female lodgers are taken. In such ways the privacy
and intimacy of home life is destroyed, and elements of
danger and demoralization admitted. Many families see
this and refuse to take lodgers, and move where they can
afford the rent without help. This involves more depriva
tions to a socially ostracized race like the Negro than to
whites, since it often means hostile neighbors or no social
intercourse. If a number of Negroes settle together, the
real estate agents dump undesirable elements among them,
which some enthusiastic association has driven from the
slums.
There are a large number of waiters, porters and ser
vant girls in the city who naturally have no home life and
are exposed to peculiar temptations. The church is the
rallying place of the best class of these young people, and
it attempts to furnish their amusements. Loafing and
promenading the streets is the only other entertainment
most of these young folks have. They form a serious
Sect 30.] Family Life. 195
problem, to which the lodging system is the only attempted
answer, and that a dangerous one. Homes and clubs
properly conducted ought to be opened for them. A
Young Men's Christian Association which would not
degenerate into an endless prayer meeting might meet the
wants of the young men.
The home life of the middle laboring class lacks many
of the pleasant features of good homes. Traces of plan
tation customs still persist, and there is a widespread cus
tom of seeking amusement outside the home ; thus the
home becomes a place for a hurried meal now and then,
and lodging. Only on Sundays does the general gathering
in the front room, the visits and leisurely dinnei; smack of
proper home life. Nevertheless, the spirit of home life is
steadily growing. Nearly all the housewives deplore the
lodging system and the work that keeps them away from
home; and there is a widespread desire to remedy these
evils and the other evil which is akin to them, the allow
ing of children and young women to be out unattended at
night.
In the better class families there is a pleasant family life
of distinctly Quaker characteristics. One can go into such
homes in the Seventh Ward and find all the quiet comfort
and simple good-hearted fare that one would expect among
well-bred people. In some cases the homes are lavishly
furnished, in others they are homely and old-fashioned.
Even in the best homes, however, there is easily detected
a tendency to let the communal church and society life
trespass upon the home. There are fewer strictly family
gatherings than would be desirable, fewer simple neighbor
hood gatherings and visits ; in their place are the church
teas, the hall concerts, or the elaborate parties given by the
richer and more ostentatious. These things are of no par
ticular moment to the circle of families involved, but they
set an example to the masses which may be misleading.
The mass of the Negro people must be taught sacredly to
196 The Negro Family. [Cliap. XI.
guard the home, to make it the centre of social life and
moral guardianship. This it is largely among the best
class of Negroes, but it might be made even more con
spicuously so than it is. Such emphasis undoubtedly
means the decreased influence of the Negro church, and
that is a desirable thing.
On the whole, the Negro has few family festivals ; birth
days are not often noticed, Christmas is a time of church
and general entertainments, Thanksgiving is coming to be
widely celebrated, but here again in churches as much as
in homes. The home was destroyed by slavery, struggled
up after emancipation^nd is again not exactly threatened,
but neglected in the life of city Negroes. Herein lies food
for thought.
CHAPTER XII.
THE ORGANIZED LIFE OF NEGROES.
31. History of the Negro Church in Philadelphia.
We have already followed the history of the rise of the
Free African Society, which was the beginning of the
Negro Church in the North. 1 We often forget that the
rise of a church organization among Negroes was a curious
phenomenon. The church really represented all that was
left of African tribal life, and was the sole expression of
the organized eiforts of the slaves. It was natural that
any movement among freedmen should centre about their
religious life, the sole remaining element of their former
tribal system. Consequently when, led by two strong men,
they left the white Methodist Church, they were naturally
unable to form any democratic moral reform association ;
they must be led and guided, and this guidance must have
the religious sanction that tribal government always has.
Consequently Jones and Allen, the leaders of the Free
African Society, as early as 1791 began regular religious
exercises, and at the close of the eighteenth century there
were three Negro churches in the city, two of which were
independent. 2
1 Cf. Chapter III.
a St. Thomas', Bethel and Zoar. The history of Zoar is of interest. It
"extends over a period of one hundred years, being as it is an offspring
of St. George's Church, Fourth and Vine streets, the first Methodist
Episcopal church to be established in this country, and in whose edifice
the first American Conference of that denomination was held. Zoar
Church had its origin in 1794, when members of St, George's Church,
established a mission in what -was then known as Campingtown, now
known as Fourth and Brown streets, at which place its first chapel was
built. There it remained until 1883, when economic and sociological
I 9 8 Organized Life of Negroes. [Chap. XII.
St. Thomas' Church has had a most interesting history.
It early declared its purpose " of advancing our friends in
a true knowledge of God, of true religion, and of the ways
and means to restore our long lost race to the dignity of
men and of Christians." 3 The church offered itself to the
Protestant Episcopal Church and was accepted on condi
tion that they take no part in the government of the gen
eral church. Their leader, Absalom Jones, was ordained
deacon and priest, and took charge of the church. In 1804
the church established a day school which lasted until
i8i6/ In 1849 St. Thomas' began a series of attempts
to gain full recognition in the Church by a demand for
delegates to the Church gatherings. The Assembly first
declared that it was not expedient to allow Negroes to
take part. To this the vestry returned a dignified answer,
asserting that " expediency is no plea against the violation
of the great principles of charity, mercy, justice and
truth." Not until 1864 was ^ e Negro body received into
full fellowship with the Church. In the century and more
of its existence St. Thomas' has always represented a high
grade of intelligence, and to-day it still represents the most
cultured and wealthiest of the Negro population and the
Philadelphia born residents. Its membership has conse-
causes made necessary the selection of a new site. The city had grown,
and industries of a character in which the Negroes were not interested
had developed in the neighborhood, and, as the colored people were
rapidly moving to a different section of the city, it was decided that
the church should follow, and the old building was sold. Through the
liberality of Colonel Joseph M. Bennett a brick building was erected on
Melon street, above Twelfth.
** Since then the congregation has steadily increased in numbers, until
in August of this year it was found necessary to enlarge the edifice. The
corner-stone of the new front was laid two months ago. The present
membership of the church is about 550." Public Ledger > November 15,
1897.
* See Douglass' " Annals of St. Thomas'."
* It was then turned into a private school and supported largely by an
English educational fund.
Sect. 31.] Negro Church in Philadelphia. 199
quently always been small, being 246 in 1794, 427 in 1795,
105 in 1860, and 391 in i897. 5
The growth of Bethel Church, founded by Richard
Allen, on South Sixth Street, has been so phenomenal that
it belongs to the history of the nation rather than to any
one city. Prom a weekly gathering which met in Allen's
blacksmith shop on Sixth near Lombard, grew a large
church edifice ; other churches were formed under the same
general plan, and Allen, as overseer of them, finally took the
title of bishop and ordained other bishops. The Church,
under the name of African Methodist Episcopal, grew and
spread until in 1890 the organization had 452,725 members,
2481 churches and $6,468,280 worth of property. 6
By i8i3 7 there were in Philadelphia six Negro churches
with the following membership : 8
St. Thomas', P. B 560
Bethel, A. M. B. 1272
Zoar, M. E 80
Union, A. M. B 74
Baptist, Race and Vine Streets So
Presbyterian 300
2366
The Presbyterian Church had been founded by two
Negro missionaries, father and son, named Gloucester, in
iSoy. 9 The Baptist Church was founded in 1809. The
inquiry of 1838 gives these statistics of churches :
5 St. Thomas 1 has suffered often among Negroes from the opprobrium
of being "aristocratic," and is to-day by no means a popular church
among the masses. Perhaps there is some justice in this charge, but
the church has nevertheless always been foremost in good work and
has many public spirited Negroes on its rolls.
6 Cf. U. S. Census, Statistics of Churches, 1890.
7 In 1809 the leading Negro churches formed a " Society for Suppress
ing Vice and Immorality, >J which received the endorsement of Chief
Justice Tilghman, Benjamin Franklin, Jacob Rush, and others.
*' Condition of Negroes, 1838," pp. 39-40.
*C Robert Jones* "Fifty years in Central Church." John Gloucester
began preaching in 1807 at Seventh and Bainbridge.
2OO
Organised Life of Negroes. [Chap. XII.
Denomination.
No.
Churches.
Members.
Annual
Expenses.
Value of
Property.
Incum-
brance.
Episcopalian ....
Lutheran . . ...
I
I
100
IO
$1,000
120
136,000
3,000
$r,ooo
Methodist
8
2,860
2,IOO
50,800
5,100
Presbyterian ....
Baptist
2
4
325
700
1,500
1,300
20,000
4,200
1,000
Total
16
3.995
$6,020
$114,000
$7,100
Three more churches were added in the next ten years,
and then a reaction followed. 10 By 1867 there were in all
probability nearly twenty churches, of which we have
statistics of seventeen : u
STATISTICS OF NEGRO CHURCHES, 1867.
Name.
Founded.
Number of
Members.
Value of
Property.
Pastors'
Salary.
P,E.
St TTiryrri^V
I7Q2
Methodist
Bethel . .
1794
1,100
$50,000
$600
Union ...
1827
467
4O,OOO
850
Wesley . ....
1817
464
2I,OOO
7OO
Zoar . . .
I7Q4.
400
I2,OOO
John Wesley .
1844
42
3,OOO
No regular
Little Wesley
1821
310
II.OOO
50O
Piserah ... ...
1811
116
4,600
430
Zion City Mission ....
Little Union ....
1858
i8v7
90
200
4>500
Baptist
First Baptist
1809
360
5,OOO
Union Baptist ....
400
7,OOO
600
Shiloh
1842
405
l6,OOO
600
Oak Street . . ....
1827
117
Presbyterian
First Presbyterian ....
Second Presbyterian
1807
1824
2OO
8,000
. . .
Central Presbyterian . . .
1844
240
16,000
. . .
Since the war the growth of Negro churches has been
by bounds, there being twenty-five churches and missions
in 1880, and fifty-five in 1897.
10 In 1847 there were 19 churches; 12 of these had 3974 members; n
of the edifices cost $67,000. " Statistical Inquiry," 1848, pp. 29, 30.
In 1854 there were 19 churches reported and 1677 Sunday-school
scholars* Bacon, 1856.
11 See Inquiry of 1867.
Sect. 32.] Function of the Negro Church. 201
So phenomenal a growth, as this here outlined means
more than the establishment of many places of worship.
The Negro is, to be sure, a religious creature most primi
tive folk are but his rapid and even extraordinary-
founding of churches is not due to this fact alone, but is
rather a measure of his development, an indication of the
increasing intricacy of his social life and the consequent
multiplication of the organ which is the function of his
group life the church. To understand this let us inquire
into the function of the Negro church.
32. The Function of the Negro Church, The Negro
church is the peculiar and characteristic product of the
transplanted African, and deserves especial study. As a
social group the Negro church may be said to have ante
dated the Negro family on American soil ; as such it has
preserved, on the one hand, many functions of tribal
organization, and on the other hand, many of the family
functions. Its tribal functions are shown in its religious
activity, its social authority and general guiding and
co-ordinating work ; its family functions are shown by the
fact that the church is a centre of social life and inter
course ; acts as newspaper and intelligence bureau, is the
centre of amusements indeed, is the world in which the
Negro moves and acts. So far-reaching are these functions
of the church that its organization is almost political. In
Bethel Church, for instance, the mother African Methodist
Episcopal Church of America, we have the following
officials and organizations :
The Bishop of the District . \
The Presiding Elder I Executive.
The Pastor . J
The Board of Trustees ......... Executive Council.
General Church Meeting Legislative.
The Board of Stewards ........ \
The Board of Stewardesses I Financial Board.
The Junior Stewardesses . J
The Sunday School Organization . . . Educational System.
Indies' Auxiliary, Volunteer Guild, etc. Tax Collectors,
202 Organized Life of Negroes. [Chap. XII.
Ushers' Association Police.
Class Leaders \SheriffsandMagistrates.
Local Preachers J
Choir Music and Amusement.
Allen Guards Militia.
Missionary Societies Social Reformers.
Beneficial and Semi-Secret Societies, etc. Corporations.
Or to put it differently, here we have a mayor, appointed
from without, with great administrative and legislative pow
ers, although well limited by long and zealously cherished
custom ; he acts conjointly with a select coimcil, the trustees,
a board of finance, composed of stewards and stewardesses,
a common council of committees and, occasionally, of all
church members. The various functions of the church are
carried out by societies and organizations. The form of
government varies, but is generally some form of democracy
closely guarded by custom and tempered by possible and
not infrequent secession.
The functions of such churches in order of present
emphasis are :
1. The raising of the annual budget.
2. The maintenance of membership.
3. Social intercourse and amusements.
4. The setting of moral standards.
5. Promotion of general intelligence.
6. Efforts for social betterment.
i. The annual budget is of first importance, because
the life of the organization depends upon it. The amount
of expenditure is not very accurately determined before
hand, although its main items do not vary much. There
is the pastor's salary, the maintenance of the building,
light and heat, the wages of a janitor, contributions to
various church objects, and the like, to which must be
usually added the interest on some debt. The sum thus
required varies in Philadelphia from $200 to $5000. A
small part of this is raised by a direct tax on each mem
ber. Besides this, voluntary contributions by members,
Sect. 32.] Function of the Negro Church. 203
roughly gauged according to ability, are expected, and a
strong public opinion usually compels payment Another
large source of revenue is the collection after the ser
mons on Sunday, when, amid the reading of notices and
a subdued hum of social intercourse, a stream of givers
walk to the pulpit and place in the hands of the trustee or
steward in charge a contribution, varying from a cent to a
dollar or more. To this must be added the steady revenue
from entertainments, suppers, socials, fairs, and the like.
In this way the Negro churches of Philadelphia raise
nearly $100,000 a year. They hold in real estate $900,000
worth of property, and are thus no insignificant element in
the economics of the city.
2. Extraordinary methods are used and efforts made to
maintain and increase the membership of the various
churches. To be a popular church with large membership
means ample revenues, large social influence and a leader
ship among the colored people unequaled in power and
effectiveness. Consequently people are attracted to the
church by sermons, by music and by entertainments ; finally,
every year a revival is held, at which considerable numbers
of young people are converted. All this is done in perfect
sincerity and without much thought of merely increasing
membership, and yet every small church strives to be large
by these means and every large church to maintain itself
or grow larger. The churches thus vary from a dozen to
a thousand members.
3. Without wholly conscious effort the Negro church
has become a centre of social intercourse to a degree
unknown in white churches even in the country. The
various churches, too, represent social classes. At St.
Thomas' one looks for the well-to-do Philadelphians, largely
descendants of favorite mulatto house servants, and conse
quently well-bred and educated, but rather cold and reserved
to strangers or newcomers ; at Central Presbyterian one
sees the older, simpler set of respectable Philadelphians
2c>4 Organised Life of Negroes. [Chap. XII.
with distinctly Quaker characteristics pleasant but con
servative ; at Bethel may be seen the best of the great
laboring class steady, honest people, well dressed and well
fed, with church and family traditions ; at Wesley will be
found the new arrivals, the sight-seers and the strangers to
the city hearty and easy-going people, who welcome all
comers and ask few questions ; at Union Baptist one may
look for the Virginia servant girls and their young men ;
and so on throughout the city. Each church forms its
own social circle, and not many stray beyond its bounds.
Introductions into that circle come through the church, and
thus the stranger becomes known. All sorts of entertain
ments and amusements are furnished by the churches :
concerts, suppers, socials, fairs, literary exercises and debates,
cantatas, plays, excursions, picnics, surprise parties, cele
brations. Every holiday is the occasion of some special
entertainment by some club, society or committee of the
church ; Thursday afternoons and evenings, when the ser
vant girls are free, are always sure to have some sort of
entertainment. Sometimes these exercises are free, some
times an admission fee is charged, sometimes refreshments
or articles are on sale. The favorite entertainment is a
concert with solo singing, instrumental music, reciting, and
the like. Many performers make a living by appearing at
these entertainments in various cities, and often they are
persons of training and ability, although not always. So
frequent are these and other church exercises that there are
few Negro churches which are not open four to seven nights
in a week and sometimes one or two afternoons in addition.
Perhaps the pleasantest and most interesting social
intercourse takes place on Sunday ; the weaty week's work
is done, the people have slept late and had a good break
fast, and sally forth to church well dressed and complacent.
The usual hour of the morning service is eleven, but
people stream in until after twelve. The sermon is usually
short and stirring, but in the larger churches elicits little
Sect. 32.] Function of the Negro Church. 205
esponse other than an "Amen" or two. After the sermon
the social features begin ; notices on the various meetings
of the week are read, people talk with each other in sub
dued tones, take their contributions to the altar, and lin
ger in the aisles and corridors long after dismission to laugh
and chat until one or two o'clock. Then they go home
to good dinners. Sometimes there is some special three
o'clock service, but usually nothing save Sunday school,
until night Then comes the chief meeting of the day ;
probably ten thousand Negroes gather every Sunday night
in their churches. There is much music, much preaching,
some short addresses; many strangers are there to be
looked at ; many beaus bring out their belles, and those
who do not gather in crowds at the church door and escort
the young women home. The crowds are usually well
behaved and respectable, though rather more jolly than
comports with a puritan idea of church services.
In this way the social life of the Negro centres in his
church baptism, wedding and burial, gossip and court
ship, friendship and intrigue all lie in these walls. What
wonder that this central club house tends to become more
and more luxuriously furnished, costly in appointment
and easy of access !
4. It must not be inferred from all this that the
Negro is hypocritical or irreligious. His church is, to be
sure, a social institution first, and religious afterwards, but
nevertheless, its religious activity is wide and sincere. In
direct moral teaching and in setting moral standards for
the people, however, the church is timid, and naturally so,
for its constitution is democracy tempered by custom,
Negro preachers are often condemned for poor leadership
and empty sermons, and it is said that men with so
much power and influence could make striking moral re
forms. This is but partially true. The congregation does
not follow the moral precepts of the preacher, but rather
the preacher follows the standard of his flock, and only
2 o6 Organized Life of Negroes. [Chap. XII.
exceptional men dare seek to change this. And here it
must be remembered that the Negro preacher is primarily
an executive officer, rather than a spiritual guide. If one
goes into any great Negro church and hears the sermon
and views the audience, one would say : either the sermon
is far below the calibre of the audience, or the people are less
sensible than they look ; the former explanation is usually
true. The preacher is sure to be a man of executive ability,
a leader of men, a shrewd and affable president of a large and
intricate corporation. In addition to this he may be, and
usually is, a striking elocutionist ; he may also be a man of
integrity, learning, and deep spiritual earnestness; but these
last three are sometimes all lacking, and the last two in many
cases. Some signs of advance are here manifest : no min
ister of notoriously immoral life, or even of bad reputation,
could hold a large church in Philadelphia without eventual
revolt. Most of the present pastors are decent, respectable
men ; there are perhaps one or two exceptions to this, but the
exceptions are doubtful, rather than notorious. On the whole
then, the average Negro preacher in this city is a shrewd
manager, a respectable man, a good talker, a pleasant com
panion, but neither learned nor spiritual, nor a reformer.
The moral standards are therefore set by the congrega
tions, and vary from church to church in some degree.
There has been a slow working toward a literal obeying of
the puritan and ascetic standard of morals which Method
ism imposed on the freedmen ; but condition and tem
perament have modified these. The grosser forms of im
morality, together with theatre-going and dancing, are
specifically denounced ; nevertheless, the precepts against
specific amusements are often violated by church members.
The cleft between denominations is still wide, especially
between Methodists and Baptists. The sermons are usually
kept within the safe ground of a mild Calvinism, with
much insistence on Salvation, Grace, Fallen Humanity
and the like.
Sect. 33.] Condition of the Churches. 207
The chief fu action of these churches in morals is to con
serve old standards and create about them a public opinion
which shall deter the offender. And in this the Negro
churches are peculiarly successful, although naturally the
standards conserved are not as high as they should be.
5. The Negro churches were the birthplaces of Negro
schools and of all agencies which seek to promote the in
telligence of the masses ; and even to-day no agency serves
to disseminate news or information so quickly and effect
ively among Negroes as the church. The lyceum and
lecture here still maintain a feeble but persistent exist
ence, and church newspapers and books are circulated
widely. Night schools and kindergartens are still held in
connection with churches, and all Negro celebrities, from a
bishop to a poet like Dunbar, are introduced to Negro
audiences from the pulpits.
6. Consequently all movements for social betterment are
apt to centre in the churches. Beneficial societies in end
less number are formed here ; secret societies keep in touch ;
co-operative and building associations have lately sprung
up ; the minister often acts as an employment agent ; con
siderable charitable and relief work is done and special
meetings held to aid special projects. 12 The race problem
in all its phases is continually being discussed, and, indeed,
from this forum many a youth goes forth inspired to
work.
Such are some of the functions of the Negro church, and
a study of them indicates how largely this organization has
come to be an expression of the organized life of Negroes
in a great city.
33. The Present Condition of the Churches. The
2441 families of the Seventh Ward were distributed among
the various denominations, in 1896, as follows :
Cf. Publications of Atlanta University No. 3, "Efforts of American
Negroes for Social Betterment."
208 Organised Life of Negroes. [Chap. XII.
Families.
Methodists 8 4 2
Baptists 577
Episcopalians I 5^
Presbyterians 74
Catholic 6 9
Shakers 2
Unconnected and unknown 7 21
2441
Probably half of the "unconnected and unknown 17
habitually attend church.
In the city at large the Methodists have a decided majority,
followed by the Baptists, and further behind, the Episco
palians. Starting with the Methodists, we find three
bodies : the African Methodist Episcopal, founded by Allen,
the A. M. E. Zion, which sprung from a secession of
Negroes from white churches in New York in the eighteenth
century ; and the M. E. Church, consisting of colored
churches belonging to the white Methodist Church, like
Zoar.
The A. M. E. Church is the largest body and had, in
1897, fourteen churches and missions in the city, with a
total membership of 3210, and thirteen church edifices,
seating 6117 persons. These churches collected during the
year, $27,074.13. Their property is valued at $202,229
on which there is a mortgage indebtedness of $30,000
to $50,000. Detailed statistics are given in the table
on the next page.
These churches are pretty well organized, and are con
ducted with vim and enthusiasm. This arises largely
from their system. Their bishops have been in some in
stances men of piety and ability like the late Daniel A.
Payne. In other cases they have fallen far below this
standard; but they have always been men of great influ
ence, and had a genius for leadership else they would not
have been bishops. They have large powers of appoint
ment and removal in the case of pastors, and thus each
Sect. 33.]
Condition of the Churches.
209
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S
, of
ties,
sjaq inapt
jo jcsqtnnjs
Church,
8 8 8888888 ; 8 8 ; 8
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210 Organized Life of Negroes. [Chap. XII.
pastor, working under the eye of an inspiring chief,
strains every nerve to make his church a successful
organization. The bishop is aided by several presiding
elders, who are traveling inspectors and preachers, and
give advice as to appointments. This system results in
great unity and power ; the purely spiritual aims of the
church, to be sure, suffer somewhat, but after all this pecu
liar organism is more than a church, it is a government of
men.
The headquarters of the A. M. E. Church are in Philadel
phia. Their publishing house, at Seventh and Pine, pub
lishes a weekly paper and a quarterly review, besides some
books, such as hymnals, church disciplines, short treatises,
leaflets and the like. The receipts of this establishment
in 1897 were $16,058.26, and its expenditures $14,119.15.
Its total outfit and property is valued at $45,513.64, with
an indebtedness of $14,513.64.
An episcopal residence for the bishop of the district has
recently been purchased on Belmont avenue. The Phila
delphia Conference disbursed from the general church
funds in 1897, $985 to superannuated ministers, and $375
to widows of ministers. Two or three women missionaries
visited the sick during the year and some committees of
the Ladies' Mission Society worked to secure orphans'
homes. 13 Thus throughout the work of this church there
18 An account of the present state of the A. M. E. Church from its own
lips is interesting, in spite of its somewhat turgid rhetoric. The follow
ing is taken from the minutes of Philadelphia Conference, 1897:
REPORT ON STATE OF THE CHURCH.
" To the Bishop and Conference: We your Committee on State of the
Church beg leave to submit the following:
'* Every truly devoted African Methodist is intensely interested in the
condition of the church that was handed down to us as a precious heir
loom from the hands of a God-fearing, self-sacrificing ancestry; the
church that Allen planted in Philadelphia, a little over a century ago has
enjoyed a marvelous development. Its grand march through the pro
cession of a hundred years has been characterized by a series of brilliant
Sect 33-] Condition of the Churches. 311
is much evidence of enthusiasm and persistent progress. 1 *
There are three churches in the city representing the
A. M. E. Zion connection. They are :
Wesley Fifteenth and Lombard Sts.
Mount Zion Fifty-fifth above Market St
Union Ninth St. and Girard Ave.
successes, completely refuting the foul calumnies cast against it and
overcoming every obstacle that endeavored to impede its onward march,
giving the strongest evidence that God was in the midst of her; she
should not be moved.
" From the humble beginnings in the little blacksmith shop, at Sixth
and Lombard streets, Philadelphia, the Connection has grown until we
have now fifty-five annual conferences, beside mission fields, with over
four thousand churches, the same number of itinerant preachers, near six
hundred thousand communicants, one and a half million adherents, with
sir regularly organized and well-manned departments, each doing a
magnificent work along special lines, the whole under the immediate
supervision of eleven bishops, each with a marked individuality and all
laboring together for the further development and perpetuity of the
church. In this the Mother Conference of the Connection, we have
every reason to be grateful to Almighty God for the signal blessings He
has so graciously poured out upon us. The spiritual benedictions have
been many. In response to earnest effort and faithful prayers by both
pastors and congregations, nearly two thousand persons have professed
faith in Christ, during this conference year. Five thousand dollars have
been given by the membership and friends of the Connectional interests
to carry on the machinery of the church, besides liberal contributions for
the cause of missions, education, the Sunday-school Union and Church
^Extension Departments, and beside all this, the presiding elder and
pastors have been made to feel that the people are perfectly willing to do
what they can to maintain the preaching of the word, that tends to
elevate mankind and glorify God.
* * The local interests have not been neglected; new churches have been
built, parsonages erected, church mortgages have been reduced, auxiliary
societies to give everybody in the church a chance to work for God and
humanity, have been more extensively organized than ever before.
"The danger signal that we see here and there cropping out, which
is calculated to bring discredit upon the Church of Christ, is the unholy
ambition for place and power. The means ofttimes used to bring about
the desired results, cause the blush of shame to tinge the brow of
14 Cf., e. ,*., the account of the founding of new missions in the minutes
of the Philadelphia Conference, 1896.
212 Organized Life of Negroes. [Chap. XII.
No detailed statistics of these churches are available ;
the last two are small , the first is one of the largest and
Christian manhood. God always has and always will select those He
designs to use as the leaders of his Church.
" Political methods that are in too many instances resorted to, are con
trary to the teaching and spirit of the Gospel of Christ. Fitness and
sobriety will always be found in the lead.
" Through mistaken sympathy we find that several incompetent men
have found their way into the ministerial ranks; men who can neither
manage the financial nor spiritual interests of any church or bring success
along any line, who are continuously on the wing from one conference to
the other. The time has come when the strictest scrutiny must be exer
cised as to purpose and fitness of candidates, and if admitted and found
to be continuous failures, Christian charity demands that they be given
an opportunity to seek a calling where they can make more success than
in the ministry. These danger signals that flash up now and then must
be observed and everything contrary to the teachings of God's word and
the spirit of the discipline weeded out. The church owes a debt of
gratitude to the fathers who have always remained loyal and true; who
labored persistently and well for the upbuilding of the connection, that
they can never repay.
" Particular care should be taken that no honorable aged minister of
our great Church should be allowed to suffer for the necessaries of life.
We especiallv commend to the consideration of every minister the
Ministers' Aid Association, which is now almost ready to be organized,
the object of which is to help assuage the grief and dry the tears of those
who have been left widowed and fatherless.
" Our Publication Department is making heroic efforts for the larger
circulation of our denominational papers and literature generally. These
efforts ought to be, and must needs be heartily seconded by the Church.
Lord Bacon says: l Talking makes a ready man, writing an exact man,
but reading makes a full man.' We want our people at large to be brim
ful of information relative to the growth of the church, the progress of
the race, the upbuilding of humanity and the glory of God.
41 Our missionary work must not be allowed to retrograde. The banner
that Allen raised must not be allowed to trail, but must go forward until
the swarthy sons of Ham everywhere shall gaze with a longing and
loving look upon the escutcheon that has emblazoned on it, as its motto:
'The Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of man,' and the
glorious truth flashing over the whole world that Jesus Christ died to
redeem the universal family of mankind. Disasters and misfortunes
may come to us, but strong men never quail before adversities. The
clouds of to-day may be succeeded by the sunshine of to-morrow. "
Sect. 33.]
Condition of the Churches.
213
most popular in the city ; the pastor receives $1500 a year
and the total income of the church is between $4000 and
$5000. It does considerable charitable work among its
aged members, and supports a large sick and death benefit
society. Its property is worth at least $25,000.
Two other Methodist churches of different denomina
tions are : Grace U. A. M. E-, Lombard street, above Fif
teenth ; St. Matthew Methodist Protestant, Fifty-eighth
and Vine streets. Both these churches are small, although
the first has a valuable piece of property.
The Methodist Episcopal Church has six organizations
in the city among the Negroes ; they own church property
valued at $53,700, have a total membership of 1202, and an
income of $16,394 in 1897. Of this total income, $1235,
or T% P er cent > was given for benevolent enterprises.
These churches are quiet and well conducted, and although
not among the most popular churches, have nevertheless
a membership of old and respected citizens.
COLORED M. B. CHURCHES IN PHILADELPHIA, 1897.
s
^
fl
1 li.
"S
"S
s
Church.
Members.
*0
<j
"v
tl
rt d
3
Contributions t
Presiding Elc
and Bishops.
Value of Churc
Value of Parso
age,
Building and ]
prove ments c
Ing Year,
Paid on Indebt
ness.
Present Indebt
ness.
Current $xpen
1 Benevolent Col
lections.
Bainbridge Street
Frankford . , .
354
72
^1312
720
$151
35
$20,000
1190
15
$601
146
$4,433
130
$1274
155
*%
828
7 2
4,000
400
I,OOO
270
177
Haven . . ...
7 2
AY*
39
3>4
24
3,836
377
25
Waterloo Street .
Zoar
221
1270
27
220
800
20,000
$4000"
450
3522
50
2171
5,80?
32
257
Total
1202
^4791
544
$49*700
$4000
$4201
$33
$15,289
$2255
$1235
There were in 1896 seventeen Baptist churches in Phila
delphia, holding property valued at more than $300,000,
having six thousand members, and an annual income of,
probably, $30,000 to $35,000. One of the largest churches
has in the last five years raised between $17,000 and
$18,000.
214
Organized Life of Negroes. [Chap. XII.
BAPTIST CHURCHES OF PHILADELPHIA, 1896.
Church.
Member
ship.
Value of
Property.
Expended
in
Missions,
.Local and
Foreign.
Annual
Income.
AIS
jfoo ooo
$7.OO
Cherry Street . . ...
*fOO
800
50,000
I ,O2O
50,000
58.10
St Paul . .
422
25,000
I.OO
l8q
I2,OOO
3.36
76
1,000
i.oo
Bettisaida. . .
78
*to
305
24,800
Grace
57
2,OOO
5.50
Shiloh.
1,000
5O,OOO
$3,600
Holy Trinity
287
IO,OOO
3.00
Second Nicetown . . .
164
2,OOO
Q.7^
Zion . . . .
700
4O,OOO
Providence . .
Tabernacle . . , .
Total
5,583
$296,800
. . .
The Baptists are strong in Philadelphia, and own many
large and attractive churches, such as, for instance, the
Union Baptist Church, on Twelfth street ; Zion Baptist, in
the northern part of the city ; Monumental, in West Phila
delphia, and the staid and respectable Cherry Street Church.
These churches as a rule have large membership. They
are> however, quite different in spirit and methods from the
Methodists ; they lack organization, and are not so well
managed as business institutions. Consequently statistics
of their work are very hard to obtain, and indeed in many
cases do not even exist for individual churches. On the
other hand, the Baptists are peculiarly clannish and loyal
to their organization, keep their pastors a long time, and
thus each church gains an individuality not noticed in
Methodist churches. If the pastor is a strong, upright
character, his influence for good is marked. At the same
time, the Baptists have in their ranks a larger percentage
of illiteracy than probably any other church, and it is
often possible for an inferior man to hold a large church
Sect. 33.]
Condition of the Churches.
for years and allow it to stagnate and retrograde. The
Baptist policy is extreme democracy applied to church
affairs, and no wonder that this often results in a per
nicious dictatorship. While many of the Baptist pastors
of Philadelphia are men of ability and education, the
general average is below that of the other churches a
fact due principally to the ease with which one can enter
the Baptist ministry. 35 These churches support a small
publishing house in the city, which issues a weekly paper*
They do some charitable work, but not much. 16
There are three Presbyterian churches in the city :
Name.
Members.
Value of
Property.
Annual
Income.
Berean ... ....
08
$75.OOO
J5l,I^5
Parsonage.
Central
41O
5O,OOO
1, 800
Parsonage.
First African
105
25,000
1,533
Central Church is the oldest of these churches and has
an interesting history. It represents a withdrawal from
the First African Presbyterian Church in 1844. The con
gregation first worshiped at Eighth and Carpenter streets.
15 Baptists themselves recognize this. One of the speakers in a recent
association meeting, as reported by the press, " deprecated the spirit
shown by some churches in spreading their differences to their detriment
as church members, and in the eyes of their white brethren; and he recom
mended that unworthy brethren from other States, who sought an asylum
of rest here, be not admitted to local pulpits except in cases where the
ministers so applying are personally known or vouched for by a resident
pastor. The custom of recognizing as preachers men incapable of doing
good work in the pulpit, who were ordained in the South after they had
failed in the North, was also condemned, and the President declared that
the times demand a ministry that is able to preach. The practice of
licensing incapable brethren for the ministry, simply to please them, was
also looked upon with disfavor, and it was recommended that applicants
for ordination be required to show at least ability to read intelligently
the Word of God or a hymn.' '
16 One movement deserves notice the Woman's Auxiliary Society.
It consists of five circles, representing a like number of colored Baptist
churches in this city, viz., the Cherry Street, Holy Trinity, Union,
Nicetown and Germantown, and does general missionary work.
216 Organised Life of Negroes. [Chap. XII.
and in 1845 purchased a lot at Ninth and Lombard,
where they still meet in a quiet and respectable house of
worship. Their 430 members include some of the oldest
and most respectable Negro families of the city. Probably
if the white Presbyterians had given more encouragement
to Negroes, this denomination would have absorbed the
best elements of the colored population ; they seem, how
ever, to have shown some desire to be rid of the blacks, or
at least not to increase their Negro membership in Phila
delphia to any great extent. Central Church is more
nearly a simple religious organization than most churches ;
it listens to able sermons, but does little outside its own
doors. 17
Berean Church is the work of one man and is an insti
tutional church. It was formerly a mission of Central
Church and now owns a fine piece of property bought by
donations contributed by whites and Negroes, but chiefly by
the former. The conception of the work and its carrying
out, however, is due to Negroes. This church conducts a
successful Building and Loan Association, a kindergarten,
17 See, Jones' " Fifty Years In Central Street Church," etc. The system
and order in this church is remarkable. Bach year a careful printed
report of receipts and expenditures is made. The following is an abstract
of the report for 1891 :
Receipts.
Finance Committee . , $977, 39
Pew Rents 709,75
Legacy 760.77
Other Receipts 329,54
-. . , v 1^777.45
Expenditures.
Pastor's Salary $1000.00
Other Salaries ....... 476.00
Repayment of Loan 409.00
Interest on Mortgage 60 . 96
Donations to General Church 31-57
General Bxpenses, etc. 759. 23
12736,76
Balance $ 40.69
Sect. 33.] Condition of the Churches. 217
a medical dispensary and a seaside home, beside the num
erous church societies. Probably no church in the city,
except the Episcopal Church of the Crucifixion, is doing
so much for the social betterment of the Negro. 18 The
First African is the oldest colored church of this denomina
tion in the city.
The Episcopal Church has, for Negro congregations, two
independent churches, two churches dependent on white
parishes, and four missions and Sunday schools. Statistics
of three of these are given in the table on page 218.
The Episcopal churches receive more outside help than
others and also do more general mission and rescue work
They hold $150,000 worth of property, have 900-1000
members and an annual income of $7000 to $8000. They
represent all grades of the colored population. The
oldest of the churches is St. Thomas? Next comes the
Church of the Crucifixion, over fifty years old and perhaps
the most effective church organization in the city for
benevolent and rescue work. It has been built up virtually
by one Negro, a man of sincerity and culture, and of
peculiar energy. This church carries on regular church,
work at Bainbridge and Eighth and at two branch mis
sions ; it helps in the Fresh Air Fund, has an ice mission > a
vacation school of thirty-five children, and a parish visitor.
It makes an especial feature of good music with its vested
choir. One or two courses of University Extension lectures
are held here each year, and there is a large beneficial and
insurance society in active operation, and a Home for the
Homeless on Lombard street. This church especially
reaches after a class of neglected poor whom the other
colored churches shun or forget and for whom there is
little fellowship in white churches, The rector says of this
work :
"For history and detailed account of this work see Anderson's
" Presbyterianism and the Negro,"
2l8
Organized Life of Negroes. [Chap. XII.
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Sect. 33.] Condition of the Churches.
" As I look back over nearly twenty years of labor in one
parish, I see a great deal to be devoutly thankful for.
Here are people struggling from the beginning of one
year to another, without ever having what can be called
the necessaries of life. God alone knows what a real
struggle life is to them. Many of them must always be
'moving on,' because they cannot pay the rent or meet
other obligations.
"I have just visited a family of four, mother and three
children. The mother is too sick to work. The eldest
girl will work when she can find something to do. But
the rent is due, and there is not a cent in the house. This
is but a sample. How can such people support a church
of their own? To many such, religion often becomes
doubly comforting. They seize eagerly on the promises
of a life where these earthly distresses will be forever
absent.
" If the other half only knew how this half is living how
hard and dreary, and often hopeless, life is the members
of the more favored half would gladly help to do all they
could to have the gospel freely preached to those whose
lives are so devoid of earthly comforts.
"Twenty or thirty thousand dollars (and that is not
much), safely invested, would enable the parish to do a
work that ought to be done and yet is not being done at
present The poor could then have the gospel preached to
them in a way that it is not now being preached."
The Catholic church has in the last decade made great
progress in its work among Negroes and is determined to
do much in the future. Its chief hold upon the colored
people is its comparative lack of discrimination. There is
one Catholic church in the city designed especially for
Negro work St. Peter Clavers at Twelfth and lyombard
formerly a Presbyterian church; recently a parish house
has been added. The priest in charge estimates that 400
or 500 Negroes regularly attend Catholic churches in various
220 Organized Life of Negroes. [Chap. XII.
parts of the city. The Mary Drexel Home for Colored
Orphans is a Catholic institution near the city which is
doing much work. The Catholic church can do more than
any other agency in humanizing the intense prejudice of
many of the working class against the Negro, and signs of
this influence are manifest in some quarters.
We have thus somewhat in detail reviewed the work of
the chief churches. There are beside these continually
springing tip and dying a host of little noisy missions which
represent the older and more demonstrative worship. A
description of one applies to nearly all; take for instance
one in the slums of the Fifth Ward:
" The tablet in the gable of this little church bears the
date 1837. For sixty years it has stood and done its work
in the narrow lane. What its history has been all this
time it is difficult to find out, for no records are on hand,
and no one is here to tell the tale.
" The few last months of the old order was something like
this: It was in the hands of a Negro congregation.
Several visits were paid to the church, and generally a
dozen people were found there. After a discourse by a
very illiterate preacher, hymns were sung, having many
repetitions of senseless sentiment and exciting cadences.
It took about an hour to work up the congregation to a
fervor aimed at Whe^a this was reached a remarkable
scene presented itself. The whole congregation pressed
forward to an open space before the pulpit, and formed a
ring. The most excitable of their number entered the
ring, and with clapping of hands and contortions led the
devotions. Those forming the ring joined in the clapping
of hands and wild and loud singing, frequently springing 1
into the air, and shouting loudly. As the devotions pro
ceeded, most of the worshipers took off their coats and
vests and hung them on pegs on the wall. This continued
for hours, until all were completely exhausted, and some
had fainted and been stowed away on benches or the pulpit
Sect. 34.] Societies and Cooperative Business. 221
platform. This was the order of things at the close of sixty
years' history. * * * When this congregation vacated
the church, they did so stealthily, under cover of darkness,
removed furniture not their own, including the pulpit, and
left bills unpaid." 19
There are dozens of such little missions in various parts
of Philadelphia, led by wandering preachers. They are
survivals of the methods of worship in Africa and the West
Indies. In some of the larger churches noise and excite
ment attend the services, especially at the time of revival
or in prayer meetings. For the most part, however, these
customs are dying away.
To recapitulate, we have in Philadelphia fifty-five Negro
churches with 12,845 members owning $ 907,729 worth of
property with an annual income of at least $94,968. And
these represent the organized efforts of the race better than
any other organizations. Second to them however come
the secret and benevolent societies, which we now consider.
34. Secret and Beneficial Societies, and Co-operative
Business. The art of organization is the one hardest for
the freedman to learn, and the Negro shows his greatest
deficiency here ; whatever success he has had has been
shown most conspicuously in his church organizations,
where the religious bond greatly facilitated union, In
other organizations where the bond was weaker his success
has been less. From early times the precarious economic
condition of the free Negroes led to many mutual aid
organizations. They were very simple in form : an initia
tion fee of small amount was required, and small regular
payments ; in case of sickness, a weekly stipend was paid,
and in case of death the members were assessed to pay for
the funeral and help the widow. Confined to a few mem
bers, all personally known to each other, such societies
**Rev. Charles Daniel, in the Naz&rene. The writer hardly does
justice to the weird witchery of those hymns sung thus rudely.
222 Organized Life of Negroes. [Chap. XII.
were successful from the beginning. We hear of them in
the eighteenth century, and by 1838 there were 100 such
small groups, with 7448 members, in the city. They paid
in $18,851, gave $14,172 in benefits, and had $10,023 on
hand. Ten years later about eight thousand members
belonged to 106 such societies. Seventy-six of these had
a total membership of 5187. They contributed usually 25
cents to 37^ cents a month; the sick received $1.50 to
$3,00 a week, and death benefits of $10.00 to $20.00 were
allowed. The income of these seventy-six societies was
$16,814.23 ; 681 families were assisted. 20
These societies have since been superceded to some
extent by other organizations ; they are still so numerous,
however, that it is impractical to catalogue all of them ;
there are probably several hundred of various kinds in
the city.
To these were early added the secret societies, which
naturally had great attraction for Negroes. A Boston
lodge of black Masons received a charter direct from Eng
land, and independent orders of Odd Fellows, Knights of
Pythias, etc., grew up. During the time that Negroes
were shut out of the public libraries there were many
literary associations with libraries. These have now dis
appeared. Outside the churches the most important
organizations among Negroes to-day are : Secret societies,
beneficial societies, insurance societies, cemeteries, building
and loan associations, labor unions, homes of various sorts
and political clubs. The most powerful and flourishing
secret order is that of the Odd Fellows, which has two
hundred thousand members among American Negroes. In
Philadelphia there are 19 lodges with a total membership
of i r 88, and $46,000 worth of property. Detailed statis
tics are in the next table : 21
20 Cf. report of inquiries in above years.
21 From Report of Fourth Annual Meeting of the District Grand Lodge
of Pennsylvania, G. U. of O. F., 1896.
Sect. 34.] Societies and Co-operative Business. 223
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This order owns two halls in the city worth perhaps
$40,000. One is occupied by the officers of the Grand
Lodge, which employs several salaried officials and clerks.
The order conducts a newspaper called the Odd Fellows*
Journal.
There are 19 lodges of Masons in the city, 6 chapters,
5 commanderies, 3 of the Scottish Rite, and I drill corp.
The Masons are not so well organized and conducted as
the Odd Fellows, and detailed statistics of their lodges are
not available. They own two halls worth at least $50,000,
and probably distribute not less than $3000 to $4000 annu
ally in benefits.
Beside these chief secret orders there are numerous
others, such as the American Protestant Association, which
has many members, the Knights of Pythias, the Galilean
Fishermen, the various female orders attached to these,
and a number of others. It is almost impossible to get
accurate statistics of all these orders, and any estimate of
their economic activity is liable to considerable error.
However, from general observation and the available
figures, it seems fairly certain that at least four thousand
Negroes belong to secret orders, and that these orders
annually collect at least $25,000, part of which is paid out
in sick and death benefits, and part invested. The real
estate, personal property and funds of these orders amount
to no less than $125,000.
The function of the secret society is partly social inter
course and partly insurance. They furnish pastime from
the monotony of work, a field for ambition and intrigue,
a chance for parade, and insurance against misfortune.
Next to the church they are the most popular organiza
tions among Negroes.
Of the beneficial societies we have already spoken in
general. A detailed account of a few of the larger and
more typical organizations will now suffice. The Quaker
City Association is a sick and death benefit society, seven
Sect 34.] Societies and Co-operative Business. 225
years old, which confines its membership to native Phila-
delphians. It has 280 members and distributes $1400 to
^1500 annually. The Sons and Daughters of Delaware
is over fifty years old. It has 106 members, and owns
$3000 worth of real estate. The Fraternal Association
was founded in 1861 ; it has 86 members, and distributes
about $300 a year. It "was formed for the purpose of
relieving the wants and distresses of each other in the
time of affliction and death, and for the furtherance of
such benevolent views and objects as would tend to estab
lish and maintain a permanent and friendly intercourse
among them in their social relations in life." The Sons
of St. Thomas was founded in 1823 an ^ was originally
confined to members of St. Thomas' Church. It was
formerly a large organization, but now has 80 members,
and paid out in 1896, $416 in relief. It has $1500 invested
in government bonds. In addition to these there is the
Old Men's Association, the Female Cox Association, the
Sons and Daughters of Moses, and a large number of other
small societies.
There is arising also a considerable number of insur
ance societies, differing from the beneficial in being con
ducted by directors. The best of these are the Crucifixion
connected with the Church of the Crucifixion, and the
Avery, connected with Wesley A. M. E. Z. Church ; both
have a large membership and are well conducted. Nearly
every church is beginning to organize one or more such
societies, some of which in times past have met disaster
by bad management. The True Reformers of Virginia, the
most remarkable Negro beneficial organization yet started,
has several branches here. Beside these there are number
less minor societies, as the Alpha Relief, Knights and
Ladies of St. Paul, the National Co-operative Society, Col
ored Women's Protective Association, Ix>yal Beneficial, etc.
Some of these are honest efforts and some are swindling-
imitations of the pernicious white petty insurance societies.
226 Organized Life of Negroes. [Chap. XII.
There are three building and loan associations conducted
by Negroes. Some of the directors in one are white, all
the others are colored. The oldest association is the Cen
tury, established October 26, 1886. Its board of directors
is composed of teachers, upholsterers, clerks, restaurant
keepers and undertakers, and it has had marked success.
Its income for 1897 was about $7000. It has $25,000 in
loans outstanding.
The Berean Building and Loan Association was estab
lished in 1888 in connection with Berean Presbyterian
Church ; 13 of the 19 officers and directors are colored.
Its income for 1896 was nearly $30,000, and it had $60,000
in loans ; 43 homes have been bought through this asso
ciation. 22
The Pioneer Association is composed entirely of Negroes,
the directors being caterers, merchants and upholsterers.
It was founded in 1888 and has an office on Pine street.
Its receipts in 1897 were $9000, and it had about $20,000
in loans. Nine homes are at present being bought in this
association.
There are arising some loan associations to replace the
pawn-shops and usurers to some extent. The Small Ix)an
Association, for instance, was founded in 1891, and has the
following report for 1898 :
Sliares sold . {1144,00
Assessments on shares 114.40
Repaid loans 4537.5
Interest . * 417-06
Cash in treasury . . 275 , 54
Dividends paid 222167
Loans made 4626.75
Expenses 82.02
The Conservative is a similar organization, consisting of
ten members.
22 This association has issued a valuable little pamphlet called tf Helpful
Hints on Home," which it distributes. This explains the object and
methods of building and loan associations.
Sect. 34.] Societies and Co-operative Business. 327
This account has attempted to touch only the chief and
characteristic organizations, and makes no pretensions to
completeness. It shows, however, how intimately bound
together the Negroes of Philadelphia are. These associa
tions are largely experiments, and as such, are continually
reaching out to new fields. The latest ventures are toward
labor unions, co-operative stores and newspapers. There
are the following labor unions, among others : The Caterers'
Club, the Private Waiters' Association, the Coachmen's
Association, the Hotel Brotherhood (of waiters), the Cigar-
makers' Union (white and colored), the Hod-Carriers' Union,
the Barbers' Union, etc.
Of the Caterers 1 Club we have already heard. 23 The
Private Waiters' Association is an old beneficial order with
well-to-do members. The private waiter is really a skilled
workman of high order, and used to be well paid. Next
to the guild of caterers he ranked as high as any class of
Negro workmen before the war indeed the caterer was
but a private waiter further developed. Consequently this
labor union is still jealous and exclusive and contains
some members long retired from active work. The Coach
men's Association is a similar society; both these organiza
tions have a considerable membership, and make sick and
death benefits and social gatherings a feature. The Hotel
Brotherhood is a new society of hotel waiters and is con
ducted by young men on the lines of the regular trades
unions, with which it is more or less affiliated in many
cities. It has some relief features and considerable social
life. It strives to open and keep open work for colored
waiters and often arranges to divide territory with whites,
or to prevent one set from supplanting the other. The
Cigar-makers' Union is a regular trades union with both
white and Negro members. It is the only union in Phila
delphia where Negroes are largely represented. No friction
1 See supra, p. 119 &
228 Organized Life of Negroes. [Chap. XII,
is apparent. The Hod-Carriers' Union is large and of consid
erable age but does not seem to be very active. A League of
Colored Mechanics was formed in 1897 but did not accom
plish anything. There was before the war a league of this
sort which flourished, and there undoubtedly will be
attempts of this sort in the future until a union is effected. 24
The two co-operative grocery stores, and the caterers 7
supply store have been mentioned. 25 There was a dubious
attempt in 1896 to organize a co-operative tin-ware store
which has not yet been successful. 26
With all this effort and movement it is natural that the
Negroes should want some means of communication. This
they have in the following periodicals conducted wholly by
Negroes :
M The College Settlement was interested in this organization, but the
movement was evidently premature.
25 See supra, p. 117 and p. 119.
26 An interesting advertisement of this venture is appended; it is a
curious mixture of business, exhortation and simplicity. The present
state of the enterprise is not known :
"NOTICE TO AI,L.
U WB CALL YOUR ATTENTION
"To THIS WORK.
"THE UNION TIN- WARE MANUFACTURING CO.
" Is now at work, chartered under the laws of the States of New Jersey
and Pennsylvania.
u The purpose of said Company is to manufacture everything in the
TIN-WARE LINE that the law allows, and to sell stock all over the
United States of America; and put in members enough in every city to
open a Union Tin-Ware Store, and if the promoter finds that he has
not enough members in a city to open a Tin-Ware Store, then he shall
open it with money from the factory. SHARES are $10.00, they can be
paid on installment plan; and you do not have any monthly dues to pay,
but on the soth of every December or whenever the Stockholders
appoint the time, the dividend will be declared.
" We will make this one of the grandest organizations ever witnessed
by the Race, if you lend us your aid. This Store will contain Groceries,
Dry Goods and Tin- Ware, and you can do your dealing at your own
store. This factory will give you work, and learn you a trade/*
Sect 34.] Societies and Co-operative Business. 229
A. M. E. Church Review, quarterly, 8vo, about ninety-
five pages.
Christian Recorder, eight-page weekly newspaper. (Both
these are organs of the A. M. E. Church.)
Baptist Christian Banner, four- page weekly newspaper.
(Organ of the Baptists.)
Odd Fellows' Journal, eight- page weekly newspaper.
(Organ of Odd Fellows.)
Weekly Tribune, eight-page weekly newspaper, seven
teen years established.
The Astonisher, eight-page weekly newspaper (German-
town).
The Standard-Echo, four-page weekly newspaper (since
suspended).
The Tribune is the chief news sheet and is filled generally
with social notes of all kinds, and news of movements
among Negroes over the country. Its editorials are usually
of little value chiefly because it does not employ a respon
sible editor. It is in many ways however an interesting
paper and represents pluck and perseverance on the
part of its publisher. The Astonisher and Standard
Echo are news sheets. The first is bright but crude.
The Recorder, Banner and Journal are chiefly filled
with columns of heavy church and lodge news. The
Review has had an interesting history and is probably the
best Negro periodical of the sort published; it is often
weighted down by the requirements of church politics, and
compelled to publish some trash written by aspiring candi
dates for office ; but with all this it has much solid matter
and indicates the trend of thought among Negroes to some
extent It has greatly improved in the last few years.
Many Negro newspapers from other cities circulate here
and widen the feeling of community among the colored
people of the city.
One other kind of organization has not yet been men
tioned, the political clubs, of which there are probably
230 Organised Life of Negroes. [Chap. XII.
fifty in tlie city. They will be considered in another
chapter.
35. Institutions. The chief Negro institutions of the
city are : The Home for Aged and Infirmed Colored Per
sons, the Douglass Hospital and Training School, the
Woman's Exchange and Girls' Home, three cemetery
companies, the Home for the Homeless, the special schools,
as the Institute for Colored Youth, the House of Industry,
Raspberry street schools and Jones's school for girls, the
Y. M. C. A., and University Extension Centre.
The Home for the Aged, situated at the corner of Girard
and Belmont avenues, was founded by a Negro lumber
merchant, Steven Smith, and is conducted by whites and
Negroes. It is one of the best institutions of the kind; its
property is valued at $400,000, and it has an annual
income of $30,000. It has sheltered 558 old people since
its foundation in 1864.
The Douglass Memorial Hospital and Training School is
a curious example of the difficult position of Negroes : for
years nearly every hospital in Philadelphia has sought to
exclude Negro women from the course in nurse-training,
and no Negro physician could have the advantage of
hospital practice. This led to a movement for a Negro
hospital ; such a movement however was condemned
by the whites as an unnecessary addition to a bewilder
ing number of charitable institutions ; by many of the
best Negroes as a concession to prejudice and a draw
ing of the color line. Nevertheless the promoters
insisted that colored nurses were efficient and needed
training, that colored physicians needed a hospital, and
that colored patients wished one. Consequently the Doug
lass Hospital has been established and its success seems to
warrant the effort. 27
27 Since the opening of the hospital colored nurses have had less
trouble In white institutions, and one colored physician has been
Sect. 35. ] Institutions. 231
The total income for the year 1895-96 was $4,656.31;
sixty-one patients were treated during the year, and thirty-
two operations performed ; 987 out-patients were treated.
The first class of nurses was graduated in 1897.
The Woman's Exchange and Girls' Home is conducted
by the principal of the Institute for Colored Youth at 756
South Twelfth street The exchange is open at stated
times during the week, and various articles are on sale.
Cheap lodging and board is furnished for a few school
girls and working girls. So far the work of the exchange
has been limited but it is slowly growing, and is certainly
a most deserving venture. 28
The exclusion of Negroes from cemeteries has, as before
mentioned, led to the organization of three cemetery com
panies, two of which are nearly fifty years old. The Olive
holds eight acres of property in the Twenty-fourth Ward,
claimed to be worth $100,000. It has 900 lot owners ; the
I^ebanon holds land in the Thirty-sixth Ward, worth at
least $75,000. The Merion is a new company which
owns twenty-one acres in Montgomery County, worth per
haps $30,000. These companies are in the main well-
conducted, although the affairs of one are just now some
what entangled.
The Home for the Homeless is a refuge and home for
the aged connected with the Church of the Crucifixion.
appointed intern in a large hospital. Dr. N. F. Mossell was chiefly
instrumental in founding the Douglass Hospital.
In connection with this work, Bethel Church often holds small
receptions for servant girls on their days off, when refreshments are
served and a pleasant time is spent. The following is a note of a similar
enterprise at another church : " The members of the Berean Union
have opened a * Y ' parlor, where young colored girls employed as domes
tics can spend their Thursday afternoon both pleasantly and profitably.
The parlor is open from 4 until 10 p. m., every Thursday, and members
of the Union are present to welcome them. A light supper is served for
ten cents. The evening is spent in literary exercises and social talk.
The parlor is in the Berean Church, South College avenue, near Twen
tieth street."
232 Organized Life of Negroes. [Chap. XII.
It is supported largely by whites but not entirely. It has
an income of about $500. During 1896, 1108 lodgings
were furnished to ninety women, 8384 meals given to
inmates, 2705 to temporary lodgers, 2078 to transients, and
812 to invalids.
The schools have all been mentioned before. The
Young Men's Christian Association has had a checkered
history, chiefly as it would seem from the wrong policy
pursued ; there is in the city a grave and dangerous lack of
proper places of amusement and recreation for young men.
To fill this need a properly conducted Young Men's
Christian Association, with books and newspapers, baths,
bowling alleys and billiard tables, conversation rooms and
short, interesting religious services is demanded ; it would
cost far less than it now costs the courts to punish the
petty misdemeanors of young men who do not know how to
amuse themselves. Instead of such an institution however
the Colored Y. M. C. A. has been virtually an attempt to
add another church to the numberless colored churches of
the city, with endless prayer-meetings and loud gospel
hymns, in dingy and uninviting quarters. Consequently
the institution is now temporarily suspended. It had
accomplished some good work by its night schools, and
social meetings.
Since the organization of the Bainbridge Street Univer
sity Extension Centre, May 10, 1895, lectures have been
delivered at the Church of the Crucifixion, Eighth and
Bainbridge streets, by Rev. W. Hudson Shaw, on English
History; by Thomas Whitney Surette, on the Develop
ment of Music; by Henry W. Elson, on American His
tory, and by Hilaire Belloc, on Napoleon. Each of these
lecturers, except Mr. Belloc, has given a course of six
lectures on the subject stated, and classes have been held
in connection with each course. The attendance has
been above the average as compared with other Centres
in the city.
Sect. 36.] The Experiment of Organization. 233
Beside these efforts there are various embryonic institu
tions : A day nursery in the Seventh Ward by the Woman's
Missionary Society, a large organization which does much
charitable work ; an industrial school near the city, etc.
There are, too, many institutions conducted by whites for
the benefit of Negroes, which will be mentioned in another
place.
Much of the need for separate Negro institutions has in
the last decade disappeared, by reason of the opening of
the doors of the public institutions to colored people.
There are many Negroes who on this account strongly
oppose efforts which they fear will tend to delay further
progress in these lines. On the other hand, thoughtful
men see that invaluable training and discipline is coming
to the race through these institutions and organizations, and
they encourage the formation of them.
36. The Experiment of Organization. looking back
over the field which we have thus reviewed the churches,
societies, unions, attempts at business co-operation, institu
tions and newspapers it is apparent that the largest hope
for the ultimate rise of the Negro lies in this mastery of
the art of social organized life. To be sure, compared
with his neighbors, he has as yet advanced but a short
distance ; we are apt to condemn this lack of unity, the
absence of carefully planned and laboriously executed
effort among these people, as a voluntary omission a bit
of carelessness. It is far more than this, it is lack of social
education, of group training, and the lack can only be sup
plied by a long, slow process of growth. And the chief
value of the organizations studied is that they are
evidences of growth. Of actual accomplishment they
have, to be sure, something to show, but nothing to boast
of inordinately. The churches are far from ideal asso
ciations for fostering the higher life rather they combine
too often intrigue, extravagance and show, with all their
, saving and charity ; their secret societies are often
234 Organised Life of Negroes. [Chap. XII.
diverted from their better ends by scheming and dishonest
officers, and by the temptation of tinsel and braggadocio ;
their beneficial associations, along with all their good work,
have an unenviable record of business inefficiency and
internal dissension. And yet all these and the other agen
cies have accomplished much, and their greatest accom
plishment is stimulation of effort to further and more
effective organization among a disorganized and headless
host. All this world of co-operation and subordination
into which the white child is in most cases born is, we
must not forget, new to the slave's sons. They have been
compelled to organize before they knew the meaning of
organization \ to co-operate with those of their fellows to
whom co-operation was an unknown term ; to fix and fasten
ideas of leadership and authority among those who had
always looked to others for guidance and command. For
these reasons the present efforts of Negroes in working
together along various lines are peculiarly promising for
the future of both races.
CHAPTER XIII.
THK NEGRO CRIMINAL.
37. History of Negro Crime in the City. 1 Prom his
earliest advent the Negro, as was natural, has figured
largely in the criminal annals of Philadelphia, Only such
superficial study of the American Negro as dates his
beginning with 1863 can neglect this past record of crime
in studying the present. Crime is a phenomenon of organ
ized social life, and is the open rebellion of an individual
against his social environment. Naturally then, if men
are suddenly transported from one environment to another,
the result is lack of harmony with the new conditions ;
lack of harmony with the new physical surroundings lead
ing to disease and death or modification of physique ; lack
of harmony with social surroundings leading to crime.
Thus very early in the history of the colony characteristic
complaints of the disorder of the Negro slaves is heard.
In 1693, July n, the Governor and Council approved an
ordinance, " Upon the Request of some of the members of
Council, that an order be made by the Court of Quarter
Sessions for the Countie of Philadelphia, the 4th July
instant (proceeding upon a presentment of the Grand June
for the bodie of the sd countie), agt the tumultuous gath
erings of the Negroes of the towne of Philadelphia, on the
1 Throughout this chapter the basis of induction is the number of
prisoners received at different institutions and not the prison population
at particular times. This avoids the mistakes and distortions of the
latter method. (Cf. Falkner; "Crime and the Census, JJ Publications
of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, No. 190)-
Many writers on Crime among Negroes, as e. g,, F. I*. Hoffman, and all
who use the Eleventh Census uncritically, have fallen into numerous
mistakes and exaggerations by carelessness on this point.
(235)
236 The Negro Criminal [Chap, XIII.
first dayes of the weeke, ordering the Constables of phila-
delphia, or anie other person whatsoever, to have power to
take up Negroes, male or female, whom they should find
gadding abroad on the said first dayes of the weeke, with
out a ticket from their Mr. or Mris., or not in their Compa,
or to carry them to gaole, there to remain that night, and
that without meat or drink, and to Cause them to be pub-
lickly whipt next morning with 39 Lashes, well Laid on,
on their bare backs, for which their sd. Mr. or Mris. should
pay i5d. to the whipper," etc. 2
Penn himself introduced a law for the special trial and
punishment of Negroes very early in the history of the
colony, as has been noted before. 3 The slave code finally
adopted was mild compared with the legislation of the
period, but it was severe enough to show the unruly char
acter of many of the imported slaves. 4
Especially in Philadelphia did the Negroes continue to
give general trouble, not so much by serious crime as by
disorder. In 1732, under Mayor Hasel, the City Council
" taking under Consideration the frequent and tumultuous
meetings of the Negro Slaves, especially on Sunday, Gam
ing, Cursing, Swearing, and committing many other Dis
orders, to the great Terror and Disquiet of the Inhabitants
of this city/' ordered an ordinance to be drawn up against
such disturbances. 5 Again, six years later, we hear of the
draft of another city ordinance for " the more Effectual
suppressing Tumultuous meetings and other disorderly
doings of the Negroes, Mulattos and Indian servts. and
slaves." 6 And in 1741, August 17, " frequent complaints
having been made to the Board that many disorderly per
sons meet every ev'g about the Court house of this city,
3 "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," I, 380-81.
*See Chapter III, and Appendix B.
* Cf. "Pennsylvania Statutes at Large," Ch. 56.
5 Watson's "Annals," I, 62.
Sect. 37.] History of Negro Crime. 237
and great numbers of Negroes and others sit there with
milk pails and other things late at night, and many disor
ders are there committed against the peace and good gov
ernment of this city," Council ordered the place to be
cleared "in half an hour after sunset.*' 7
Of the graver crimes by Negroes we have only reports
here and there which do not make it clear how frequently
such crimes occurred. In 1706 a slave is arrested for
setting fire to a dwelling; in 1738 three Negroes are
hanged in neighboring parts of New Jersey for poisoning
people, while at Rocky Hill a slave is burned alive for
killing a child and burning a barn. Whipping of Negroes
at the public whipping post was frequent, and so severe
was the punishment that in 1743 a slave brought up to be
whipped committed suicide. In 1762 two Philadelphia
slaves were sentenced to death for felony and burglary ;
petitions were circulated in their behalf but Council was
obdurate. 8
Little special mention of Negro crime is again met with
until the freedmen under the act of 1780 began to congre
gate in the city and other free immigrants joined them.
In 1809 the leading colored churches united in a society to
suppress crime and were cordially endorsed by the public
for this action. After the war immigration to the city
increased and the stress of hard times bore heavily on the
lower classes. Complaints of petty thefts and murderous
assaults on peaceable citizens now began to increase, and
in numbers of cases they were traced to Negroes. The better
class of colored citizens felt the accusation and held a
meeting to denounce crime and take a firm stand against
their own criminal class. A little later the Negro riots
commenced, and they received their chief moral support
from the increasing crime of Negroes; a Cuban slave
id., pp. 62-63.
8 "Pennsylvania Colonial Records, " II, 275; IX, 6; " "Watson's An
nals," I, 309,
The Negro Criminal [Chap. XIII.
brained his master with a hatchet, two other murders by
Negroes followed, and gambling, drunkenness and debauch
ery were widespread wherever Negroes settled. The
terribly vindictive insurrection of Nat Turner in a neigh
boring State frightened the citizens so thoroughly that
when some black fugitives actually arrived at Chester from
Southampton County, Virginia, the Legislature was
hastily appealed to, and the whole matter came to a climax
in the disfranchisement of the Negro in 1837, and the riots
in the years 1830 to 1840.*
Some actual figures will give us an idea of this, the
worst period of Negro crime ever experienced in the city.
The Eastern Penitentiary was opened in 1829 near ^ e close
of the year. The total number of persons received here for
the most serious crimes is given in the next table. This
includes prisoners from the Eastern counties of the State,
but a large proportion were from Philadelphia : 10
Years.
Total
Commit
ments.
Negroes.
Per Cent
of
Negroes.
Per Cent of
Negroes
of Total
Population.
1820-74 . ...
QO
2Q O
82*7 ( TPt-ari
iS^-^Q .... . .
Q^O
356
AQ SI
7 2O ( iR/ln
jRyin-M/j ....._.., T
70 1
2OQ
29 8
/O7 \ ^04
7 1Q ( ift/in
l8dA-4Q
6n
1^1
2-1 8
48l ( T&cn
1850-54
664
106
16.0
4.83(1850
Or to put it differently the problem of Negro crime in
Philadelphia from 1830 to 1850 arose from the fact that
less than one-fourteenth of the population was responsible
for nearly a third of the serious crimes committed.
These figures however are apt to relate more especially
to a criminal class. A better measure of the normal
criminal tendencies of the group would perhaps be found
in the statistics of Moyamensing, where ordinary cases of
crime and misdemeanor are confined and which contains
9 Cf. Chapter IV.
10 Reports Eastern Penitentiary.
Sect 37.]
History of Negro Crime.
239
only county prisoners,
prison are :
The figures for Moyamensing
Years.
Total
White
Prisoners
Received.
Total
Negro
Prisoners
Received.
Per Cent
of Negroes
of Total
Prisoners.
Per Cent of
Negroes
of Total
Population.
l8ri6 /ic . . ...
1164
1087
.*Q *2Q
*7 1Q ( jf^Afl\
lSA.6-%% ...
I J.78
606
4--*y
12 OT
/oV v iO 4 u /
x 8? / Tftrn i
uyu
4'o \- LO 5 u < /
Total
2642
1783
Here we have even a worse showing than before ; in
1896 the Negroes forming 4 per cent of the population fur
nish 9 per cent of the arrests, but in 1850 being 5 per cent
of the population they furnished 32 per cent of the prisoners
received at the county prison. Of course there are some
considerations which must not be overlooked in interpreting
these figures for 1836-55. It must be remembered that
the discrimination against the Negro was much greater
then than now : he was arrested for less cause and given
longer sentences than whites. 11 Great numbers of those
arrested and committed for trial were never brought to trial
so that their guilt could not be proven or disproven ; of
737 Negroes committed for trial in six months of the year
1837, it is stated that only 123 were actually brought to
trial ; of the prisoners in the Eastern Penitentiary, 1829 *
1846, 14 per cent of the whites were pardoned and 2 per
cent of the Negroes. All these considerations increase the
statistics to the disfavor of the Negro. 12 Nevertheless
making all reasonable allowances it is undoubtedly true
that the crime of Negroes in this period reached its high
tide for this city.
The character of the crimes committed by Negroes
compared with whites is shown by the following table,
"Average length of sentences for whites in Eastern Penitentiary
'during nineteen years, 2 years 8 -months 2 days ; for Negroes, 3 years
3 months 14 days. Cf. " Health of Convicts" (pam.), pp. 7, 8.
Ibid., "Condition of Negroes," iS;^ pp. 15-18; "Condition," etc.,
1848, pp. 26, 27.
240
The Negro Criminal. [Chap. XIII.
which covers the offences of 1359 whites and 718 Negroes
committed to the Eastern Penitentiary, 1829-1846. If we
take simply petty larceny we find that 48. 8 per cent of the
whites and 55 per cent of the Negroes were committed for
this offence. 13
Whites.
N egroes.
Number.
Per Cent.
Number.
Per Cent.
Offences us tne person
1 66
II-4
8q
12.4
Offences vs. property with violence .
Offences vs. property without violence
191
873
I3 i
59-8
165
432
22.9
60.2
Malicious offences vs. property . . .
Offences vs. Currency and forgery . .
22
167
i-5
11.5
14
7
2.O
1.0
Miscellaneous .
4O
27.0
II
1.5
All offences
1359
ICO
718
IOO
38, Negro Crime Since the War. Throughout the
land there has been since the war a large increase in crime,
especially in cities. This phenomenon would seem to
have sufficient cause in the increased complexity of life,
in industrial competition, and the rush of great numbers
to the large cities. It would therefore be natural to sup
pose that the Negro would also show this increase in
criminality and, as in the case of all lower classes, that he
would show it in greater degree. His evolution has, how
ever, been marked by some peculiarities. For nearly two
decades after emancipation he took little part in many of
the great social movements about him for obvious reasons.
His migration to city life, therefore, and his sharing in the
competition of modern industrial life, came later than was
the case with the mass of his fellow citizens. The Negro
began to rush to the cities in large numbers after 1880,
and consequently the phenomena attendant on that
momentous change of life are tardier in his case. His rate
of criminality has in the last two decades risen rapidly,
and this is a parallel phenomenon to the rapid rise of the
13 " Condition of Negroes," 1849, PP- 2 8> 29. " Condition," etc., 1838,
pp. 15-18.
Sect. 38.] Negro Crime Since the War. 241
white criminal record two or three decades ago. Moreover,
in the case of the Negro there were special causes for the
prevalence of crime : he had lately been freed from serf
dom, he was the object of stinging oppression and ridicule,
and paths of advancement open to many were closed to
him. Consequently the class of the shiftless, aimless, idle,
discouraged and disappointed was proportionately larger.
In the city of Philadelphia the increasing number of
bold and daring crimes committed by Negroes in the last
ten years has focused the attention of the city on this sub
ject. There is a widespread feeling that something is
wrong with a race that is responsible for so much crime,
and that strong remedies are called for. One has but to
visit the corridors of the public buildings, when the courts
are in session, to realize the part played in law-breaking by
the Negro population. The various slum centres of the
colored criminal population have lately been the objects of
much philanthropic effort, and the work there has aroused
discussion. Judges on the bench have discussed the mat
ter. Indeed, to the minds of many, this is the real Negro
problem. 14
That it is a vast problem a glance at statistics will
show; 15 and since 1880 it has been steadily growing. At
the same time crime is a difficult subject to study, more
14 "The large proportion of colored men who, in April/had been before
the criminal court, led Judge Gordon to make a suggestion -when he yes
terday discharged the jurors for the term. ' It would certainly seem,' said
the Court, ' that the philanthropic colored people of the community, of
whom there are a great many excellent and intelligent citizens sincerely
interested in the welfare of their race, ought to see what is radically
wrong that produces this state of affairs and correct it, if possible.
There is nothing in history that indicates that the colored race has a pro
pensity to acts of violent crime; on the contrary, their tendencies are
most gentle, and they submit with grace to subordination.* " Philadel
phia Record, April 29, 1893; Cf. Record, May 10 and 12; Ledger, May 10,
and Times, May 22, 1893.
15 Except as otherwise noted, the statistics of this section are from the
official reports of the police department,
242
The Negro Criminal. [Chap. XIII.
difficult to analyze into its sociological elements, and most
difficult to cure or suppress. It is a phenomenon that
stands not alone, but rather as a symptom of countless
wrong social conditions.
The simplest, but crudest, measure of crime is found
in the total arrests for a period of years. The value of
such figures is lessened by the varying efficiency and dili
gence of the police, by discrimination in the administration
of law, and by unwarranted arrests. And yet the figures
roughly measure crime. The total arrests and the number
of Negroes is given in the next table for thirty-two years,
with a few omissions :
ARRESTS IN PHILADELPHIA, 1864-96.
Date.
Total
Number
Arrested.
Total
Negroes
Arrested.
Percentage
of Negroes.
1864 . . ...
*4. 221
-i 114
9T
!865
43,226
2,722
6 ;
!869
*S, 74Q
2.QO7
7C
1870
31,717
2,O7O
5
6.>
1873 . . . ....
30,400
I.^SO
A ^
1874.
32,114
1,257
3Q
34.. ^53
I,**^Q
4C
^76 . , , .
1877 .
44. 22O
2 ^24
r 7
7870 . ,
AO TLA.
2 "260
e
io/y ... ,.......
l88o ....
44, OQ7
2,2O4
O*
A 08
!88i . .
4C.12Q
2 "*27
5 TT
1882 ....
4.6 I^O
2 l8^
471
1883 . . .
AZ 2Q^
2 O22
*/ J
A A6
2884 . ....
4Q,46S
2 174
A "*!
1885 . ......
cr /n8
2 662
5TT
j8S6 . .
. J.J.
1887
^7 Q^I
3 2^6
r 6l
!88S
4.6 SQQ
2 QIO
6 20
I^gq
4.2,673
2 6l4
6 10
*-~y
1800
49 J 4&
^ l67
6 AA
1891 .
c^ 184
"i ZAA
6 66
1892
co QAA
3 A 7T
6 48
180-;
57,297
J-^O 1
A O78
7 II
1804. ...
61 478
4. 8o;
7 8l
iO^iJ. . . ...
iScK . . .
60 ^4.7
5T-27
8 =;
1896
58,072
> L o/
5,302
o
9-i
We find that the total arrests in the city per annum have
risen from 34,221 in 1864 to 61,478 in 1894, an increase of
Sect 38.] Negro Crime Since the War. 343
80 per cent in crime, parallel to an increase of 85 per cent
in population. The Negroes arrested have increased from
3114 in 1864 t 4^05 in 1894, an increase of 54 per cent in
crime, parallel to an increase of 77 per cent in the Negro
population of the city. So, too, the percentage of Negroes
in the total arrests is less in 1894 than in 1864. If, how
ever, we follow the years between these two dates we see
an important development : 1864 was t ^ ie date bounding
the ante-bellum period of crime; thereafter the proportion of
Negro arrests fell steadily until, in 1874, ttie Negroes came
as nearly as ever furnishing their normal quota of
arrests, 3.9 per cent from 3.28 per cent (1870) of the popu
lation. Then slowly there came a change. With the
Centennial Exposition in 1876 came a stream of immi
grants, and once started the stream increased in speed by
its own momentum. With this immigration the propor
tion of Negro arrests arose rapidly at first as a result of the
exposition ; falling off a little in the early eighties, but with
1885 rising again steadily and quickly to over 6 per cent
in 1888, 6.4 per cent in 1890, 7 per cent in 1893, 8.5 per
cent in 1895, 9 per cent in 1896. This is, as has been said
before, but a rough indication of the amount of crime for
which the Negro is responsible ; it must not be relied on
too closely, for the number of arrests cannot in any city
accurately measure wrongdoing save in a very general way;
probably increased efficiency in the police force since 1864
has had large effect ; and yet we can draw the legitimate
conclusion here that Negro crime in the city is far less,
according to population, than before the war ; that after the
war it decreased until the middle of the seventies and then,
coincident with the beginning of the new Negro immigra
tion to cities, 1 * it has risen pretty steadily.
These same phenomena can be partially verified by sta
tistics of Moyamensing prison. If we take the tried and
Cf. Cliapters IV and VII.
244 Tfo Negro Criminal. [Chap. XIII.
untried prisoners committed to this county prison from
1876 to 1895 we find the same gradual increase of crime :
MOYAMENSING PRISON.
Both Tried and Untried Prisoners.
Date.
Total
Receptions
Negroes.
Per Cent
of Negroes.
1876 . . ....*..
21,736
1,530
7.8
1877
22,666
1,460
6.44
1878 . . . .
22,147
1,356
6.12
1870
20,736
1*136
5.48
!88o
22,487
1,030
4.58
!88i , .
22,478
1, 168
5.19
I gg 2
24,176
1,274
5.27
!883 .
23, 245
1,175
5.05
3:884 .
25,081
1,218
4.86
!88s
24,725
1,427
5.77
Z 886
27,286
1,708
6,26
1887 ... .......
28,064
1,724
^.Q7
!888 . . .
21,399
1,399
o-w
6.^4.
!88q . .
18,476
1,^38
7.24
A ?7
1800
20,582
1,611
7.83
1801 ,
22, 745
*>723
7.57
1802 ....
22,460
I,QOO
846
iSo 1 ;
25,209
2,234
8.86
180,1
25,777
2,452
Q.5I
ifioc
22,584
2,317
^*o*
IO.26
Total
464,959
31,180
6.70
13761885
229,477
12,774
5-57
1886-1895
235.482
18,406
7.81
If we compare in this table the period 1876-85 with that
of 1886-95 we find that the proportion of Negro criminals
in the first period was 5.6 per cent, in the second 7.8 per
cent
The statistics of inmates of the House of Correction
where mild cases and juveniles are sent, for the last few years
go to tell the same tale :
Year.
Total
Receptions
Negroes.
Percentage
of Negroes.
1801 ...
con?
27/f
A 6
r^ ........
1802 ....
oyw
C2Q7
^/4
2C/f
4.u
A 8
189^
1804 . . . . . -
6^7Q
iocs
16 o
1895
7548
672
8-9
Sect. 38.] Negro Crime Since the War.
245
Gathering up the statistics presented let us make a
rough diagram of some of the results. First let us scan
the record of the Negro in serious crime, such as entails
incarceration in the Eastern Penitentiary. In these figures
the Philadelphia convicts are not separated from those in
the eastern counties of the state prior to 1885. A large
proportion of the prisoners however are from Philadelphia ;
perhaps the net result of the error is somewhat to reduce the
apparent proportion of Negroes in the earlier years.
Taking then the proportion of Negro prisoners received to
total receptions since the founding of the Penitentiary we
have this diagram :
PROPORTION OF NEGROES TO TOTAI, CONVICTS RECEIVED AT THE
EASTERN PENITENTIARY, 1829-1895.
40
A
I
1830 183S 1840 (845 1850 (855 I860 1865 1870 1875 1880 1885 1890 1895
PROPORTION OF NEGRO TO TOTAL CRIMINALS.
>>M< Mt .. ~ POPULATION OF PHILADELPHIA*
The general rate of criminality may be graphically repre
sented from the proportion of Negroes in the county prison,
246
The Negro Criminal. [Chap. XIII.
although changes In the policy of the courts make the
validity of this somewhat uncertain :
1640 1850 i860 (870 I88O 1890 1900
" PROPORTION OF NEGROES IN MOYAMENSING PRISON TO TOTAL PRISONERS
TOTAL POPULATION OF CITY
PROPORTION ETC. ESTIMATED FROM ARRESTS.
It thus seems certain 17 that general criminality as
represented by commitments to the county prison has
decreased markedly since 1840, and that its rapid increase
since 1880 leaves it still far behind the decade 1830 to 1840.
Serious crime as represented by commitments to the peni
tentiary shows a similar decrease but one not so marked
indicating the presence of a pretty distinct criminal class.
17 The chief element of uncertainty lies in the varying policy of the
courts, as for instance, in the proportion of prisoners sent to different
places of detention, the severity of sentence, etc. Only the general
conclusions are insisted on here.
Sect. 38.] Negro Crime Since the War.
247
CONVICTS COMMITTED TO THE EASTERN PENITENTIARY.
Years.
Total Com
mitments.
Negroes.
Percentage
of Negroes.
jg 7C ?Q
878
_g
4O 5
jQrr_ CQ
Q4I
126
j- 4
1860-64
QOQ
I2Q
14.2
1474
I7O
12 I
I87O-74
I2QI
174
1^.4
2^47
275
II. 7
I88O-84 ... ....
2282
308
1885-80* ...
223
14. OQ
1890-95*
1418
22.43
* Only convicts from Philadelphia; the statistics for the year 1891 are not available
And are omitted.
The record of arrests per 1000 of Negro population
1864 to 1896 seems to confirm these conclusions for that
period:
wwnwm
\
W5
\
\
(19.
\
/
\
/
v
\
^94
/
/
\
/
7P
\
/
3
\
\
\
\
x x
-65
---""
\
\
/
54
^^
Vt PtM
Nw
^^X^^
SO
45
44
45
"^
IB65 1870 IS75 J8SO 1665 1690
NEGRO ARRESTS TO EVERY 1000 OF NEGRO POPULATION.
WHITE " 1000 - WHITE
1895
The increase in crime between 1890 and 1895 is not
without pretty adequate explanation in the large Negro
248
The Negro Criminal. [Chap. XIII.
immigration cityward and especially in u the terrible
business depression of 1893" to which the police bureau
attributes the increase of arrests. The effect of this would
naturally be greater among the economic substrata.
This brings us to the question, Who are the Negro
criminals and what crimes do they commit? To obtain
an answer to this query let us make a special study of a
typical group of criminals.
39. A Special Study in Crime. 18 During ten years
previous to and including 1895, there were committed to
the Eastern Penitentiary, the following prisoners from the
city of Philadelphia :
WHITES AND NEGROES COMMITTED TO THE
EASTERN PENITENTIARY,
Date.
Total Con
victions.
Negroes.
Per Cent of
Negroes.
1885
3T7.
AO
12 78 1
1886
T.A7
AZ
12 Q7 1
1887
^6^
C7
'
IA DO > T/( Q
1888
65
260
oo
7Q
T/f Ar\
l88q . .
ju y
2QI
s
A&
T5T fit
l8qo ....
^yi
271
7
A^.OI J
27. "2^ ^
1801* . .
o
^5"*b
' \
1892
217
A2
IQ 71 1
1893
5 2O
7A
llll f 22 '43
1804 .......
-?2Q
6q
^o-^o !
2O O7 1
1895
O^V
28=C
uy
*7O
^ u *7/ 1
24 ^6 1
^4-0 J
Total
3,001
541
1 8. 2 average.
* Statistics for this year were not available. Throughout this section, therefore,
this year Is omitted.
us now take the 541 Negroes who have been the
perpetrators of the serious crimes charged to their race
during the last ten years and see what we may learn.
These are all criminals convicted after trial for periods
16 For the collection of the material here compiled, I am indebted to
Mr. David N. Fell, Jr., a student of the Senior Class, Wharton School,
University of Pennsylvania, in the year ^S-'gy, As before noted the
figures in this Section refer to the number of prisoners received at the
Eastern Penitentiary, and not to the total prison population at any par
ticular time.
Sect 39.] A Special Study in Crime. 249
varying from six months to forty years. It seems plain in
the first place that the 4 per cent of the population of
Philadelphia having Negro blood furnished from 1885 to
1889, 14 per cent of the serious crimes, and from 1890 to
1895, 22^ per cent. This of course assumes that the
convicts in the penitentiary represent with a fair degree of
accuracy the crime committed. The assumption is not
wholly true ; in convictions by human courts the rich
always are favored somewhat at the expense of the poor,
the upper classes at the expense of the unfortunate
classes, and whites at the expense of Negroes. We know
for instance that certain crimes are not punished in Phila
delphia because the public opinion is lenient, as for
instance embezzlement, forgery, and certain sorts of
stealing; on the other hand a commercial community
is apt to punish with severity petty thieving, breaches of
the peace, and personal assault or burglary. It happens,
too, that the prevailing weakness of ex-slaves brought up
in the communal life of the slave plantation, without
acquaintanceship with the institution of private property,
is to commit the very crimes which a great centre of
commerce like Philadelphia especially abhors. We must
add to this the influences of social position and connections
in procuring whites pardons or lighter sentences. It has
been charged by some Negroes that color prejudice plays
some part, but there is no tangible proof of this, save
perhaps that there is apt to be a certain presumption of
guilt when a Negro is accused, on the part of police, public
and judge. 19 All these considerations modify somewhat
our judgment of the moral status of the mass of Negroes.
And yet, with all allowances, there remains a vast problem
of crime.
The chief crimes for which these prisoners were con
victed were :
w Witness the case of Marion Stuyvesant accused of the murder of the
librarian Wilson, in 1897.
250
The Negro Criminal [Chap. XIII.
Theft 243
Serious assaults on persons 139
Robbery and burglary 85
Rape ... . 24
Other sexual crimes 23
Homicide 16
All other crimes n
Total 541
Following these crimes from year to year we have :
*
Crime.
I
i
1
s
&
N
CT'v
00
&
CO
I
to
1
Theft etc
?o
?T
23
T?
? 1
39
20
32
23
28
2 43
Robbery and burglary . . .
2
IO
8
II
5
TS
5
9
12
7
Q
14
TO
8
77
85
139
Homicide . . . - .
7
?
5
2
T
T
2
16
Sexual crimes
6
4
2
-i
47
All others ! !
?
I
T
7.
3
2
11
Total
40
4^
tt
4-0
47
64
42
7^
67
70
541
The course of the total serious crime for this period may
be illustrated by this diagram:
1889 i860 1887 1388 1889 I89Q 1891
1803 1894 1693
Drawing a similar diagram for the different sorts of
crime we have :
Sect. 39.] A Special Study in Crime.
251
... - HOMICIDE:
BURGLARY & ROBBERY
In ten years convictions to the penitentiary for theft
have somewhat increased, robbery, burglary and assault
have considerably increased, homicide has remained about
the same, and sexual crimes have decreased. Detailed
statistics are given in the following table :
CRIMES OF 541 CONVICTS IN EASTERN PENITENTIARY, 1885-1895.
Crimes.
8
I
i
i
&
8
1
1
6
ii
i
1
9
17
i
I
I
3
7
3
i
1
3
2
i
6
5
3
3
4
3
6
2
7 6
I
I
3
4
i
i
*6
13
i
Aggravated assault and battery . .
Assault to kill . .
Assault to murder
20
2
21
3
5
23
3
5
13
I
4
24
5
39
4
5
2
17
3
4
27
5
9
T
I
22
9
IO
i
28
6
2
Larceny
Burglary
JEDmoezzlcineiit - *
2
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
i
3
2
3
2
I
2
3
I
2
I
I
Abortion
Rape . .
Attempt to rape
Incest
6
4
i
.
I
I
I5nticinT femfl-lft cliild .
Carrying concealed weapons . . .
I
4
i
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
2
Receiving stolen goods
Mayhem .
ITI/lAf^Tlf" f^TTTXYStlT^
Conspiracy
40
45
53
47
~64
-
73
I
Total.
40
42
6?
70
The Negro Criminal. [Chap. XIII.
The total crime can be classified also in this way :
Crimes against property ...... 3 28 60.63 percent.
" " persons ....... 157 29.02
4< " persons and property . 8 1.48 "
Sexual crimes . .......... 48 8.87
541 100. percent.
Let us now turn from the crime to the criminals. 497 of
them (91.87 per cent) were males and 44 (8.13 per cent)
were females. 296 (54.71 per cent) were single, 208 (3445
per cent) were married, and 37 (6.84 per cent) were widowed.
In age they were divided as follows :
Age.
Number.
Percentage.
58
io.73l
I7O
1 f _ r
132
f 56.I9J
132
24.03 "I
34
^LnS
10
Z 85 I 34 ' 08
60 and over
5
-9i J
Total
541
100.
The mass of criminals are, it is easy to see, young single
men under thirty. Detailed statistics of sex and age and
conjugal condition are given in the next tables.
AGE AND SEX OF CONVICTS IN EASTERN PENITENTIARY.
NEGROES, 1885-1895.
Ages.
Males.
Females.
Total.
53
5
58
153
17
170
119
13
132
86
5
85
4.5
2
47
AQ-AA .
21
I
22
II
I
12
?
3
5 ^-,
15
15
Total
4Q7
44
541
Sect 39.] A Special Study in Crime.
253
CONJUGAL CONDITION OF CONVICTS IN EASTERN PENITENTIARY.
Ap-e
Males.
Females.
Single.
Married.
Widowed.
Single.
Married.
Widowed.
15-19
48
5
4
I
o
20-24
117
35
7
9
I
25-29
59
54
8
3
10
30-34
30
38
6
4
I
35~39
ii
30
4
o
o
2
40-49
8
16
8
o
2
O
50-59
3
3
4
O
60 and over
o
2
3
o
o
O
The convicts were born in the following States:
Philadelphia 114
Other parts of Pennsylvania 48
New Jersey 21
Maryland ...... 99
Virginia . 77
Delaware 37
District of Columbia 55
North Carolina 19
New York II
South Carolina 9
Georgia 8
Other parts of the North ........ 13
" " " South .....,., 22
The West 13
Foreign Countries 15
541
Altogether 21 per cent were natives of Philadelphia ;
were born in the North, and 309, or 57 per cent, were
born in the South. Two-thirds of the Negroes of the city,
judging from the Seventh Ward, were born outside the
city, and this part furnishes 79 per cent of the serious
crime. 54 per cent were born in the South, and this part
furnishes 57 per cent of the crime, or more, since many
giving their birthplace as In the North were really born in
the South.
The total illiteracy of this group reaches 26 per cent or
adding in those who can read and write imperfectly, 34 per
cent compared with 18 per cent for the Negroes of the
254
The Negro Criminal. [Chap. XIII.
city in 1890. In other words the illiterate fifth of the
Negro population furnished a third of the worst criminals.
II,I,ITERACY OF CONVICTS IN THE EASTERN STATE PENITENTIARY.
Year.
Read and Write.
Read and Write
Imperfectly.
Totally Illiterate.
Number.
Per Cent.
Number.
Per Cent
Number.
Per Cent.
1885 . ...
20
25
27
3
43
33
55
49
55
50.0
55-55
50-94
64.10
56.52
68.25
78.57
74-32
71.01
78.57
6
4
1
10
3
o
o
o
15.0
8.88
24.53
15.38
21.74
4.76
o
o
14
16
"t
10
17
9
19
20
15
35-0
35-55
24-53
20.51
21.74
26.98
21-43
25-68
28.99
21.43
!886
1887 . . .
1888 . ...
1889 . . ...
1890
1892 ....
1801
1801
1895
Total
358
66.17
42
7.76
141
26.06
Naturally as the general intelligence of a community
increases the general intelligence of its criminals increases,
though seldom in the same proportion, showing that some
crime may justly be attributed to pure ignorance. The
number of criminals able to read and write has increased
from 50 per cent in 1885 to 79 per cent in 1895. The
number of colored men from fifteen to thirty who can
read and write was about 90 per cent in the Seventh Ward
in 1896. This shows how little increased intelligence
alone avails to stop crime in the face of other powerful
forces. It would of course be illogical to connect these
phenomena directly as cause and effect and make Negro
crime the result of Negro education in that case we
should find it difficult to defend the public schools in most
modern lands. Crime comes either in spite of intelligence
or as a result of misdirected Intelligence under severe
economic and moral strain. Thus we find here, as is
apparently true in Prance, Italy and Germany, increasing
crime and decreasing illiteracy as concurrent phenomena
rather than as cause and effect. However the rapid
increase of intelligence in Negro convicts does point to
some grave social changes : first, a large number of young
Sect. 39.] A Special Study in Crime.
255
Negroes are in such environment that they find it easier to
be rogues than honest men ; secondly, there is evidence of
the rise of more intelligent and therefore more dangerous
crime from a trained criminal class, quite different from
the thoughtless, ignorant crime of the mass of Negroes.
A separation of criminals according to sex and age and
the kind of crime is of interest. (See p. 256 for males.)
CRIMINATE IN EASTERN
PENITENTIARY. -FEMALES, BY AGE
AND CRIME.
CriE
aes.
Ages.
I^arceny.
Assault and
Battery.
Aggravated
Assault.
Assault to Kill.
Murder.
Bawdy and
Disorderly
Houses.
Accessory to
Murder.
Abduction.
IC-IQ
5
2024
10
I
-
2
I
25-29 ....
^O-^d
ii
z
I
I
I
j
-2C -2Q . . .
j
4O-44.
I
45-49 - -
i
. .
. -
The women are nearly all committed for stealing and
fighting. They are generally prostitutes from the worst
slums. The boys of fifteen to nineteen are sentenced
largely for petty thieving :
Whole number of male convicts, 15-19 years of age . . 53
Convicted for larceny 27
" assault and fighting 8
" " sexual crimes 5
" burglary 5
" " other crimes 8
53
Making a similar table for two other age periods we have :
Men, 25-29 Years.
Men, 20-24 Years,
Larceny 62
Assault . , , 41
Burglary and robbery .... 30
Sexual crimes 6
Other crimes 14
153
Larceny 45
Assault 33
Burglary and robbery .... 22
Sexual crimes . 13
Homicide 4
Other crimes 3
119
256
The Negro Criminal [Chap. XIIL
w
2
o
Hi
a
I-l
a
I
I
nT
fc
O
I
O
adBH 0} ;iriBssv
CO M CO <N Tj- CS M
Xraopos
H -^ fO O . w cO
o; ;ITIBSSV
PUB
spooo
a
lit I
inoioo
M C4 C* c
cO cO ^ rj- lO
o
VO
3
Sect. 39.] A Special Study in Crime.
157
There is here revealed no especial peculiarity: stealing
and fighting are ever the besetting sins of half-developed
races.
It would be very instructive to know how many of the
541 criminals had been in the hands of the law before.
This is however very difficult to ascertain correctly since
in many, if not the majority of cases, the word of the
prisoner must be taken. Even these methods however
reveal the startling fact that only 315 or 58 per cent of
these 541 convicts are reported as being incarcerated for
the first time. 226 or 42 per cent can be classed as
habitual criminals, who have been convicted as follows :
Twice . - - - Tnc
46.5 per
26.5
II.O
8.0
4.0
1.8
2.2
cent.
c
I
I
<
(
Three tin
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
ies 60
. . . . . 24
. . . . , . .10
A
I -i
.... , I
... .... 2
I ^
226 loo per cent.
When we realize that probably a large number of the
other convicts are on their second or third term we begin
to get an idea of the real Negro criminal class. 19
19 The following Negroes were measured by the Bertillon system in?
Philadelphia during the last three years:
1893 64 (Whites 101).
1894 66 (Whites 248).
1895 56 (Whites 267).
1896 75 (Whites 347).
The arrests by detectives for five years are given on the following-
page (258).
258
The Negro Criminal.
[Chap. XIII.
A few other facts are of interest: if we tabulate crime
according to the illiteracy of its perpetrators, we have :
Larceny 31 per cent of illiteracy.
Assault, burglary and homicide . .34 " t "
Sexual crimes . 55 " " "
Or in other words, the more serious and revolting the
crime the larger part does ignorance play as a cause. If
we separate prisoners convicted for the above crimes
according to length of sentence, we have :
Under five years 464 90.5 per cent.
Five and under ten years 40 8.0 "
Ten years and over 9 1.5 <f
513
Of the 49 sentenced for 5 years and over, 18 or 37 per
CRIMES OF NEGROES ARRESTED BY DETECTIVES, 1878-1892.
CRIMES.
1887.
18S8.
1889.
1890.
1891.
1892.
Fugitives from justice ....
IO
2
A
/J.
X/arceny
10
IQ
17
IO
18
2Q
7
A
I
*y
T7
2
2
Professional thief ......
I
A
2
I
2
Sodomy
I
Misdemeanor . . . .
I
J
T
Absconding
.
I
Assault to kill . .
6
I
J
Stabbing
J
False pretense
2
I
J
Forgery
J
Receiving stolen goods ....
Murder . . .
I
4
2
8
i
3
2
Abortion
J
j
.
Breach of peace ,
2
Abandonment
i
I
Gambling house
Fornication and adultery . . .
i
Infanticide .
I
House robbery
I
Lottery
I
8
Embezzlement
i
Perjury
i
Seduction ..... ...
I
Bawdv house
I
Sect. 40.] Some Cases of Crime. 259
cent were illiterate; of those sentenced for less than 5
years, 1 60 or 35 per cent were illiterate.
From this study we may conclude that young men are
the perpetrators of the serious crime among Negroes ; that
this crime consists mainly of stealing and assault ; that
ignorance, and immigration to the temptations of city life,
are responsible for much of this crime but not for all ; that
deep social causes underlie this prevalence of crime and
they have so worked as to form among Negroes since 1864
a distinct class of habitual criminals ; that to this criminal
class and not to the great mass of Negroes the bulk of the
serious crime perpetrated by this race should be charged.
40. Some Cases of Crime. It is difficult while studying
crime in the abstract to realize just what the actual crimes
committed are, and under what circumstances they take
place. A few typical cases of the crimes of Negroes may
serve to give a more vivid idea than the abstract statistics
give. Most of these cases are quoted from the daily news
papers.
First let us take a coupk of cases of larceny:
Bdward Ashbridge, a colored boy, pleaded guilty to the larceny of a
quart of milk, the property of George Abbott. The boy's mother said
he was incorrigible, and he was committed to the House of Refuge.
William Drumgoole, colored, aged thirty-one years, of Lawrenceville,
Va., was shot in the back and probably fatally wounded late yesterday
afternoon by William H. McCalley, a detective, employed in the store of
John Wanamaker, Thirteenth and Chestnut streets. Drumgoole, it is
alleged, stole a pair of shoes from the store, and was followed by
McCalley to the corner of Thirteenth and Chestnut streets, where he
placed him under arrest. Drumgoole broke away from the detective's
grasp, and running down Thirteenth street turned into Drury
street, a small thoroughfare above Sansom street. McCalley started in
pursuit, calling upon him to stop, but the fugitive darted into an alley
way, and when his pursuer came up within a few yards of him, he
threatened to " do him up >J if he followed him any further. McCalley
drew his revolver from his pocket, and as Drnmgoole again broke into a
run he pointed the weapon at his legs and fired. Drumgoole fell to the
ground, and when McCalley came up to him he was unable to rise.
McCalley saw at a glance that, instead of wounding him in the leg, as he
had intended, the bullet had lodged in the man's back. He hurriedly
260 The Negro Criminal. [Chap. XIII.
sought assistance, and had the wounded man taken to the Jefferson
Hospital. McCalley then surrendered himself to Reserve Policeman
Powell, and was taken to the Central Station.
Fighting and quarreling among neighbors and associates
is common in the slum districts :
Etta Jones, colored, aged twenty-one years, residing on Hirst street,
above Fifth, was stabbed near her home last night, it is alleged, by I^ottie
Iree, also colored, of Second and Race streets. The other woman was
taken to the Pennsylvania Hospital, where her injuries were found to
consist of several cuts on the left shoulder and side, none of which are
dangerous. Her assailant was arrested later by Policeman Dean and
locked up in the Third and Union streets station house. The assault is.
said by the police to have been the outcome of an old grudge.
Joseph Cole, colored, aged twenty-four years, residing in Gillis' alley,
was dangerously stabbed shortly before midnight on Saturday, as is
alleged, by Abraham Wheeler, at the latter's house, on Hirst street. Cole
was taken to the Pennsylvania Hospital, where it was found the knife
had penetrated to within a short distance of the right lung. Wheeler fled
from the house after the cutting and eluded arrest until yesterday after
noon, when he was captured by Policeman Mitchell, near Fifth and
Lombard streets. When brought to the station house Wheeler denied
having cut Cole, but acknowledged having struck him because he was
insulting his wife. He was locked up, however, to await the result of
Cole's injuries.
Sometimes servants are caught pilfering:
Theodore Grant, colored, residing on Burton street, attempted to
pledge a woman's silk dress for $15 at McFillen's, Seventeenth and
Market streets, several days ago. The pawnbroker refused, under his
rule, to take women's raiment from a man, and told Grant to bring the
owner. Grant went away and returned with Ella Jones, a young colored
woman, who consented to take $7 for the dress. Since that time C. F.
Robertson, residing at Sixtieth and Spruce streets, made complaint to the
police of the loss of the dress, and as the result of an investigation made
by Special Policemen Gallagher and Ewing, Grant and Ella Jones were
arrested yesterday charged with, the larceny of the silk dress, which was
recovered. Grant admitted to the special policemen that Ella had given
him the dress to pawn, but asserted that he had nothing to do with the
matter except to offer to pledge the article. At a hearing before Magis
trate Jermon, at the City Hall, yesterday, Mr. Robertson stated that the
girl had made a statement to him, saying that Grant had induced her to
take the dress. He said the girl had been perfectly trustworthy up to the
time of her acquaintance with Grant, and had been left in full charge of
the house, and that nothing was ever missed. He said he also expected
Sect. 40.] Some Cases of Crime. 261
to show that Grant had been concerned in two or three robberies. Ella
Jones, a neatly dressed girl, who said she came from Maryland, stated to
the magistrate that Grant had been coming to see her for about a year
past. She said he had been importuning her to take something and let
him pawn it, so that he could raise some money, until she finally consented.
After she started to go to her mistress' room to get the dress her heart
failed and she turned back, but he persuaded her, telling her that Mrs.
Robertson would not miss it, and then she took the dress. Mr. Robertson
informed the magistrate, and Ella assented to the statement, that Grant
had taken every cent of her earnings from her for weeks past and had also
pawned all of her clothing, so that at the present time she was penniless
and had not a single garment except what she wore. The magistrate said
it was undoubtedly a hard case, but he would have to hold Grant and Ella
on the charge of larceny, and Grant under additional bail for a further
hearing next Thursday on the charges referred to by Mr. Robertson. The
police say that Grant, who is a smooth-faced, cross-eyed mulatto, is a
" crap fiend,'* and that whatever money he has managed to obtain by
threats and cajolery from his victim, Ella Jones, has gone into the pockets
of the small-fry gamblers.
There is growing evidence of the appearance of a set
of thieves of intelligence and cunning: sneak thieves,
confidence-men, pickpockets, and "sharpers." Some typi
cal cases follow :
Marion Shields and Alice Hofiinan, both colored and residing on
Fitzwater street, above Twelfth, had a further hearing yesterday before
Magistrate South, at the City Hall, and were held for trial on the charge
of pilfering wearing apparel, money, vases, umbrellas, surgical instru
ments, and other portable property from physicians* offices and houses,
where they had made visits, under the pretence of desiring to hold
consultations with the doctors. The Magistrate said there were ten
cases against Marion Shields individually on which she would be placed
under $2500 bail, and six cases against both women on which the bail
would be $1500. For her frankness, Marion Shields was given the lighter
sentence, one year in the Eastern Penitentiary, and Alice Hoffman was
sentenced to eighteen months in the same institution.
Two daring thieves yesterday entered the jewelry store of Albert
Baudschopfs , 468^ North Eighth street, and secured a number of
articles of jewelry from under the very eyes of the proprietor. They
had left the store and proceeded leisurely down the street before the
jeweller discovered his loss, with the result that before an alarm, could be
given the thieves had traveled a considerable distance. One of the men
was captured after a long chase, but the other's whereabouts is unknown.
About half-past one o'clock two colored men entered the store and upon
their request were shown trays of various articles. One of the men
engaged the proprietor in conversation while the other continued to
262 The Negro Criminal. [Chap. XIII.
inspect the jewelry. They said they did not intend buying then and
would call again and opening the door walked hurriedly down the street.
Mr. Baudschopfs says the men got away with a gold-filled watch case, a
silver watch, three gold lockets, each set with a small diamond ; two
dozen ladies* gold rings, not jewelled; a gold scarf pin and a man's gold
watch.
A crime for which Negroes of a certain class have
become notorious is that of snatching pocketbooks on the
streets :
While passing down Eleventh street, near Mount Vernon, shortly after
nine o'clock, Mrs. K. Nichun, of 1947 Waruock street, was approached
from behind by a Negro, who snatched a pocketbook containing $2 from
her hand and ran down a small thoroughfare towards Tenth street. Very
few pedestrians were upon the street at the time, but two men, who were
attracted by the woman's scream, started in pursuit of the thief. The
latter had too much of a start, however, and escaped.
William Williams, colored, of Dayton, O M was locked up in the Cen
tral Station yesterday, by Reserve Policeman A, Jones, on the charge of
snatching a pocketbook from the hands of Mrs. Mary Tevis, of 141
Mifflin street. The theft occurred at Eighth and Market streets. After
securing the pocketbook Williams ran until he reached the old office of
the city solicitor, at Sixth and Locust streets. He was followed by
Reserve Jones, who captured him in the cellar of the building. Williams
was taken to Eighth and Sansom streets to await the arrival of the patrol
wagon, and while getting into the vehicle the pocketbook dropped from
out of his trousers.
Detectives Bond and O'Leary and Special Policeman Duffy, of the
Eighth and Lombard streets station, arrested last night Sylvester Archer,
of Fifth street, below Lombard, William Whittington, alias " Piggy," of
Florida street, and William Carter, of South Fifteenth street, all colored
and about twenty-one years of age, on the charge of assault upon and
robbery of Mrs. Harrington Fitzgerald, wife of the editor of the Evening
Item-. The assault occurred on Monday at noon. As Mrs. Fitzgerald
was passing Thirteenth and Spruce streets, a purse which she carried in
her hand, and which contained $20, was snatched from her by one of
three colored men. They took advantage of the crowd to strike her after
the robbery had been perpetrated and escaped before her outcry was
heard. When the men were brought to the Central Station last night
and questioned by Captain of Detectives Miller, Whittington, it is said,
confessed complicity in the crime. He told the captain that they had
been following a band up Thirteenth street, and as they reached Spruce
street Carter said, " There's a pocketbook; I'm going to get it." "All
right; get it,*' came the response. Carter ran up to Mrs. Fitzgerald and
and in a moment shouted, "I've got it ! " Then he and Archer ran up
Thirteenth street. Each man has a criminal record, and the picture of
Sect 40*] Some Cases of Crime. 263
each is in the Rogues' Gallery. Carter has just completed a six months'
sentence for purse-snatching, while Williams and Archer have each served
time for larceny.
So frequent have these crimes become that sometimes
Negroes are wrongfully suspected; whoever snatches a
pocketbook on a dark night is supposed to be black.
A favorite method of stealing is to waylay and rob the
frequenters of bawdy houses ; very little of this sort of
crime, naturally, is reported. Here are some cases of such
" badger thieves," as they are called :
William Lee, colored, and Kate Hughes, a white woman, were con
victed of robbing Vincenzo Monacello of Jio. Lee was sentenced to three
years and three months in the Eastern Penitentiary and his accomplice
to three years in the county prison. Mary Roach, jointly indicted with
them, was acquitted. Monacello testified that, while walking along
Christian street, between Eighth and Ninth streets, on Thursday night
of last week, he was accosted by Mary Roach and accompanied her to
her home on Essex street. Here he met Lee and Kate Hughes and
they all drank considerable beer. Later in the night he started with
Kate Hughes, at her suggestion, to a house further up the street While
on their way the prosecutor said he was struck in the face with a brick
by Lee, after which the money was stolen from him. Mary Roach took
the stand against the other two defendants and the case against her was
abandoned.
Ella Jones, colored, claiming to be from Baltimore, was arrested yes
terday by Policeman Dean on the charge of the larceny of a Jio bill from
Joseph Gosch, a Pole, who came from Pittsburg on Sunday, and claims
that while he was looking for lodging he was taken to the woman's house
and robbed.
From pocketbook snatching to highway robbery is but
a step :
Before Judge Yerkes, in Court No. I, Samuel Buckner, a young colored
man, was convicted of robbing George C. Goddard of a gold watch and
chain and a pocketbook containing $ 3. He was sentenced to ten years
in the Eastern Penitentiary. Mr. Goddard, with his head swathed in
bandages, was called to the stand. He said that a few minutes past mid
night of November 28 he was returning to his home, No. 1220 Spruce
street, after a visit. He placed his hand in his pocket, drew out his key
and was about to mount the steps when a dark form appeared from Bean
street, a small, poorly-lighted thoroughfare, next door but one to his
home, and at the same instant he was struck a violent blow full in the
364 The Negro Criminal. [Chap. XIII.
face with a brick. He sank to the pavement unconscious. When he
recovered his senses he was in the Pennsylvania Hospital. There was a
long, deep cut on his right cheek, another across the forehead, both eyes
were blackened and swollen, and his nose was also bruised. At the same
time he discovered the loss of his pocketbook and jewelry. Judge Yerkes
reviewed the facts of the case, and in imposing sentence said: " When you
committed this offence you were absolutely indifferent as to the conse
quences of your cowardly attack. You rifled this man's person of all his
valuables and left him lying unconscious on the pavement, and for aught
you knew he might have been dead. It is necessary not only that society
be protected from the depredations of such fiends as you, but also that an
example be made of such ruffians. The sentence of the Court is that you
undergo an imprisonment of ten years at labor in the Eastern Peniten
tiary, and stand committed until this sentence shall be complied with."
The official record shows that Buckner was arrested on December n,
l8 93> by policeman Logan, of the Lombard street station, on the charge
of the larceny of a purse from Mrs. Caroline Lodge, of 2416 North
Fifteenth street, on the street, and was sentenced December 14, 1893, by
Judge Biddle, to one year's imprisonment.
Cases of aggravated assaults, for various reasons, are
frequent :
Rube Warren, colored, thirty years, of Foulkrod and Cedar streets,
was held in Jiooo bonds, by Magistrate Eisenbrown, for an alleged aggra
vated assault and battery on Policeman Haug, of the Frank ford sta
tion, during a dog fight about a month ago. The policeman attempted to
stop the fight when Warren, it is charged, assisted by several compan
ions, assaulted him, broke his club and took away his revolver. During
the free fight that followed, in which other policemen took part, Warren
escaped and went to Baltimore. There, it is said, he was sent to prison
for thirty days. As soon as he was released he went back to Frankford,
where he was arrested on Saturday night.
William Braxton, colored, aged twenty-eight years, of Irving street,
above Thirty-seventh, was yesterday held in $800 bail for a further hear
ing, charged with having committed an aggravated assault on William
Keebler, of South Thirtieth street. The assault occurred about three
o'clock yesterday morning on Irving street, near Thirty-seventh, where
the colored folks of the neighborhood were having a party. Keebler and
two friends, none of whom were colored, forced their company on the
invited guests, it is said, and a fight ensued. Keebler was found a short
time afterward lying in the snow with one eye almost gouged out. He
was conveyed to the University Hospital and the police of the Woodland
avenue station, under Acting Sergeant Ward, upon being notified of the
affair, hurried to the Irving street house and arrested twenty of the guests
just in the height of their merrymaking. All of them, however, were
discharged at the hearing, upon Braxton's being recognized as the man
Sect. 40.] Some Cases oj Crime. 265
who struck Keebler. The physician at the hospital says that the injured
man will very likely lose the sight of one eye.
Gambling goes on almost openly in the slum sections
and occasions, perhaps, more quarreling and crime than
any other single cause. Reporters declared in 1897
" Policy playing is rampant in Philadelphia. Under the very noses of
the police officials and, it is safe to say, with the knowledge of some of
them, policy shops are conducted openly and with amazing audacity.
They are doing a ' land office ' business. Hundreds of poor people every
day place upon the infatuating lottery money that had better be spent for
food and clothing. They actually deny themselves the necessaries of life
to gamble away their meagre income with small chance of getting any
return. Superintendent of Police Linden, discussing the general subject
of policy playing with a Ledger reporter, said: * There are not words
enough in the dictionary to express my feelings upon this matter. I
regard policy as the worst evil in a large city among the poor people.
There are several reasons for this. One is that women and children may
play. Another is that players may put a few cents on the lottery. Policy
may do more harm than all the saloons and lt speak easies J> in the city.
The price of a drink of liquor is five or ten cents and the cost of a
" growler ' * is ten cents, but a man or a woman can buy two cents' worth
of policy. The effect of this is obvious. Persons who have not the price
of a drink may gamble away the few pennies they do possess in a policy
shop. Then the drain is constant. Policy "fiends" play twice a day, risk
ing from two cents to a dollar upon the chance. They become so infatu
ated with the play that they will spend their last cent upon it in the hope
of making a " hit." Many children go hungry and with insufficient cloth
ing as a result of policy playing. I have heard of young children engag
ing in this sort of gambling. Of course the effect of this is very bad. The
policy evil is, to my mind, the very worst that exists in our large cities as
affecting the poorer classes of people/ *' *
20 Although the police lieutenants have reported to the Superinten
dent that few policy shops exist, the Ledger has information which leads
it to state that such is not the fact. Many complaints against the evil
nave been received at this office. A reporter found it easy to locate and
gain admittance to a number of houses where policy is written. A policy
writer who is thoroughly informed as to the inside working of the system
is authority for the statement that at no time in recent years has policy
playing been so prevalent or the business carried on as openly as it is now.
While the locations of the policy shops are well known and the writers
familiar to many persons, the backers, who, after all, are the substantial
part of the system, are hard to reach, for they exercise an unusual cun
ning in the direction of the business. There are several backers in
266 The Negro Criminal [Chap. XIII.
Once in a while gambling houses are raided:
Twenty-three colored men, who were arrested in a raid of the police
on an alleged gambling house, on Rodman street, above Twelfth, had
Philadelphia of greater or less pretensions, but a young man who resides-
uptown and operates principally in the territory north of Girard avenue,
is said to be the heaviest backer of the game in this city. He owns sixty
or seventy "books, "and his income from their combined receipts is
sufficient to support himself and several relatives in magnificent style.
A Ledger reporter spent one day last week looking up the policy shops
in one of the sections where this backer operates. He found, in addition
to several places where policy is written, the rendezvous of the writers
and the headquarters of the policy king himself.
The writers who hold "books" from the backer in question meet
twice every day, Sundays excepted, in a mean, dirty little house over
looking the Reading tracks, just below Montgomery avenue. They
enter by the rear through a narrow alley leading off Delhi street, several
yards below Montgomery avenue. At noon and at 6 o'clock in the eve
ning the writers hurry to this rendezvous.
The unusual number of men gathering at this point at regular inter
vals, and the business-like manner in which they go through the alley
and back gate is enough to attract the attention of the Twelfth District
policeman on this beat and arouse his suspicions. Whether he notices it
or not, these proceedings have been going on for months.
Each writer, when he reaches this central point, turns in his "book "
and receipts. There are two drawings daily, hence the two meetings.
Two relatives of the backer receive the u books" and the money. A
copy of each writer's " book " and all the money are carried by one of
these men to the house of an ex-special policeman, a few squares away,
and there turned over to the backer, who has received a telegram from
Cincinnati stating the numbers that have come out at that drawing.
The "books" are carefully gone over, to see if there are any <c hits."
If there are they are computed, and the backer sends to each writer the
amount necessary to pay his losses. The numbers that appear at each
drawing are printed with rubber stamps in red ink, on slips of white
paper and given to the writers to distribute among the players.
These drawings are usually carried to the rendezvous by the ex-police
man. The backer pockets the half day's receipts, mounts his bicycle
and rides away.
To establish beyond a doubt the character of the building in which
the writers meet, the reporter made his way into it on the afternoon in
question. It is a well-known policy shop, conducted by a colored man,
who has been writing policy for years. He is president of a colored
political club, with headquarters near by. On the occasion of the visit
the back gate was ajar. Pushing it open, the reporter walked in without
challenge. From the Public Ledger, December 3, 1897.
Sect. 40.] Some Cases of Crime. 267
a hearing yesterday, before Magistrate South, at the City HalL One man*
residing on Griscom street, testified that the house was supposed to be a
"club," and that it was customary to pay a dollar before admission could
be secured, and that he had been gambling at "crap " and a card game
known as " five-up," and had lost 18. He said there was a president,
marshal and sergeant-at-arms. He pointed out Boiling, Jordan and
Phillips as the principals. Special Policeman Duffy testified that the
crowd was playing "crap" with dice on the floor when he headed the
raid on Monday night. He said he had notified Boiling, as the head of
the house, three months ago, when he had heard that gambling was going
on there, to stop it. On cross-examination the witness said he did not
know that it was a social club called the " Workingmen's Club/* Patrol
man William Harvey testified that he went to the house on last Saturday
night and got in readily, and was not called on to pay a dollar initiation
fee, as had been claimed was the rule. He said he played '* sweat " and
lost twenty-five cents, but did not win anything. He said Boiling was-
running the game. He said that when he entered the house somebody
called out " Sam's got a new man," and that was all that was said.
More and more frequently in the last few years, have
crime, excess, and disappointment led to attempted
suicide :
Policeman Wynne, of the Fifth and Race streets station, last evening
found an unknown colored woman lying unconscious in an alleyway at
Delaware avenue and Race street. Beside the woman was an empty
bottle labeled benzine. Wynne immediately summoned the patrol wagon
and had the woman removed to the Pennsylvania Hospital, where her
condition was said to be critical. The physicians said there was no doubt
the woman had drunk the contents of the bottle, and narcotics weie at
once administered to counteract the effect of the poison. At midnight
the woman showed signs of returning consciousness and it was thought
that she would recover. The police have no clue to her identity, as she
could not tell her name, and the alleyway where she was found is sur
rounded by business houses, and no one could be found who knew her.
It is but fair to add that many unsustained charges of
crime are made against Negroes, and possibly more in
proportion than against other classes. Some typical cases
of this sort are of interest :
W. M. Boley, colored, thirty years old, who said he resided in Mayes-
ville, South Carolina, was a defendant before Magistrate Jermon, at the
City Hall, yesterday, on the charge of assault with intent to steal.
Detective Gallagher and Special Police-man Thomas testified that their
attention was attracted to the prisoner by his actions in a crowd at the
268 The Negro Criminal. [Chap. XIII.
New York train gate at Broad street station on Saturday. He had with
him several parcels which he laid on the floor near the gate, and they
said they saw him make several attempts to pick women's pockets, and
arrested him. The man however proved by documentary evidence that
he was a clergyman, a graduate of Howard University, and financial
agent of a Southern school. He was released.
Under instructions from Judge Finletter, a jury rendered a verdict of
not guilty in the case of George Queen, a young colored man, charged
with the murder of Joseph A. Sweeney and John G. O'Brien. Dr.
Frederick G. Coxson, pastor of the Pitman Methodist Episcopal
Church, at Twenty-third and Lombard streets, testified that on the night
in question he was about to retire, when he heard a disturbance on
the street. Upon going out he saw three young men, two of whom were
leading the other and persuading him to come with them. At the
same time the prisoner, Queen, came along in the middle of the street,
walking leisurely. Immediately upon seeing him the three men attacked
him, and were shortly afterward joined by three others, and the entire
crowd, among whom were Sweeney and O'Brien, continued beating and
striking the colored man. Suddenly the crowd scattered and Queen was
placed under arrest ; he had fatally stabbed two of his assailants. This
testimony showed that the accused was not the aggressor, and without
hearing the defence Judge Finletter ordered the jury to render a verdict
of not guilty. The case, he said, was one of justifiable homicide, the
defendant having a right to resist the attack by force. The judge further
said he thought the case would have a tendency to repel the brutal attacks
made on inoffensive persons in the community, and to make the streets
safe for every man to walk on at any hour without fear.
for a moment the question of the deeper social
causes of crime among Negroes, let us consider two closely
.allied subjects, pauperism and the use of alchoholic liquors.
CHAPTER XIV.
PAUPERISM AND ALCOHOLISM.
41. Pauperism. Emancipation and pauperism must
ever go hand in hand ; when a group of persons have
been for generations prohibited from self-support, and self-
initiative in any line, there is bound to be a large number
of them who, when thrown upon their own resources, will
be found incapable of competing in the race of life. Penn
sylvania from early times, when emancipation of slaves in
considerable numbers first began, has seen and feared this
problem of Negro poverty. The Act of 1726 declared;-
" Whereas free Negroes are an idle and slothful people and
often prove burdensome to the neighborhood and afford ill
examples to other Negroes, therefore be it enacted * *
* * that if any master or mistress shall discharge or
set free any Negro, he or she shall enter into recognizance
with sufficient securities in the sum of $o to indemnify
the county for any charge or incumbrance they may brings
upon the same, in case such Negro through sickness or
otherwise be rendered incapable of self-support."
The Acts of 1780 and 1788 took pains to provide for Negro
paupers in the county where they had legal residence, and
many decisions of the courts bear upon this point. About
1820 when the final results of the Act of 1780 were being
felt, an act was passed u To prevent the increase of pauper
ism in the Commonwealth ; " it provided that if a servant
was brought into the state over twenty-eight years of age
(the age of emancipation) his master was to be liable for
his support in case he became a pauper. 1
Thus we can infer that much pauperism was prevalent
among the freedmen during these years although there are
1 See Appendix B for these various laws.
(269)
27
Pauperism and Alcoholism. [Chap. XIV.
no actual figures on the subject In 1837, 2 35 f
1673 Inmates of the Philadelphia County Almshouse were
Negroes or 14 per cent of paupers from 7.4 per cent of the
population. These paupers were classed as follows : 2
Males.
Under 21 years 18
21 to 50 <c 57
30 to 75 " .18
Unknown 13
106
Females.
Under 18 years 33
181040 " 59
40 to 60 c ' 17
60 " and over . . . 10
Unknown 10
129
Lunatics and defective 16 males, 31 females,
Defective from exposure n " n "
Consumption, rheumatism, etc. ... 9 "
Pleurisy, typhus fever, etc 12 "
Destitute 13 "
Paupers 32 " 35 "
Unclassed 13 " 28 "
Women lying-in, children and orphans, 24 * f
106 males, 129 females.
Ten years later there were 196 Negro paupers in the
Almshouse, and those receiving outdoor relief were reported
as follows : 3
In the City:
Of 2562 Negro families, 320 received assistance.
In Spring Garden:
Of 202 Negro families, 3 received assistance.
In Northern Liberties:
Of 272 Negro families, 6 received assistance.
In Southwark:
Of 287 Negro families, 7 received assistance.
In West Philadelphia:
Of 73 Negro families, 2 received assistance.
In Moyamensing:
Of 866 Negro families, 104 received assistance.
Total, of 4262 Negro families, 442 received assistance, or 10 per cent.
1 " Condition," etc., 1838.
su Condition," etc., 1848.
Sect. 41.]
Pauperism.
271
This practically covers the available statistics of the past ;
it shows a large amount of pauperism and yet perhaps not
more than could reasonably be expected.
To-day it is very difficult to get any definite idea of the
extent of Negro poverty ; there is a vast amount of alms
giving in Philadelphia, but much of it is unsystematic
and there is much duplication of work; and, at the
same time, so meagre are the records kept that the
real extent of pauperism and its causes are very hard to
study. 4
The first available figures are those relating to lodgers at
the station houses i. v persons without shelter who have
applied for and been given lodging : 5
1891, total lodgers . . 13,600, of whom 365, or 2.7 per cent were Negroes.
1892,
1
. . 11,884,
345, or 2.9
1893,
c
. .20,521,
' 622, or 3.0 *
1894,
1
. .43,726,
' 1247, or 2.9 '
1895,
*
- .45,788,
* 2247, or 4.9 <
1896,
t
. .46,121,
' 2359, or 5.0
Somewhat similar statistics are furnished by the report
of arrests by the vagrant detective for the last ten years :
1887. . . total arrests, 581. Negroes.
-55 9-5 per cent
1888. ..
574-
.
. 48 8.4
1889. . .
588.
.
. 36 6.1
1890 . . .
523-
. 48 9.1
1891 . . .
554-
.
. 47 8.5
1892 . . .
505-
.
. 65 12.9
1893 ...
586.
.
. 67 u.o
1894. . .
688.
.
.66 9.6
1895. ..
557-
.
. 56 10.0
1896. , .
629.
.
- 59 9-3
The Negro vagrants arrested during the last six years
were thus disposed of :
4 Cf. The "Civic Club Digest " for general information.
s From reports of police department. Many other official reports
might be added to these, but they are easily accessible.
272
Pauperism and Alcoholism. [Chap. XIV*
Disposal.
1891.
1892.
1893.
1894-
1895-
1896.
Given temporary shelter . . ,
21
27
29
39
26
32
Transported from city ....
Arrested for vagrancy, beggary,
3
2
5
4
2
3
etc
c
IO
4
4
2
5
Arrested for vicious conduct,
etc ...
15
IO
16
II
14
5
Sent to House of Refuge . . .
3
14
7
2
5
o
Sent to societies and institutions
o
2
6
6
7
13
These records give a vague idea of that class of persons
just hovering between pauperism and crime tramps,
loafers, defective persons and unfortunates a class difficult
to deal with because made up of diverse elements.
Turning to the true paupers, we have the record of the
paupers admitted to the Blockley Almshouse during six
years:
ADUI/TS SIXTEEN YEARS OF AGE AND OVER.
Year.
Total
Receptions
Negroes.
Per Cent of
Negroes.
6764
569
8.4
x-
6231
537
8,8
6451
567
8.8
1801
6108
569
9-3
Tgnr
6318
606
9-3
1896
6414
593
9.2
CHILDREN UNDER SIXTEEN YEARS OF AGE.
Year.
Total
Receptions
Negroes.
Per Cent of
Negroes.
380
38
12.3
1892
262
38
14.5
295
38
12.9
304
35
II. I
4OI
10.5
1806
410
51
12.4
In 1891, 4.2 per cent of the whites admitted were
insane and 2.3 per cent of the Negroes; in 1895,
8.3 per cent of the whites and 8.6 per cent of the
Negroes :
Sect 41.]
Pauperism.
THE INSANE.
273
Year.
Whites.
Negroes.
Total
Receptions
Insane.
Total
Receptions
Insane.
1891
6195
5694
5884
5539
57*2
264
450
427
441
463 ,
569
537
567
569
606
13
45
39
38
52
1892 .
T gen
1801
<j y+
iSqs
We have already seen that in the Seventh Ward about
9 per cent of the Negroes can be classed as the " very poor, }>
needing public assistance in order to live. From this we
may conclude that between three and four thousand Negro
families in the city may be classed among the semi-pauper
class. Thus it is plain that there is a large problem of
poverty among the Negro problems ; 4 per cent of the
population furnish according to the foregoing statistics
at least 8 per cent of the poverty. Considering the
economic difficulties of the Negro, we ought perhaps to
expect rather more than less than this. Beside these per
manently pauperized families there is a considerable number
of persons who from time to time must receive temporary
aid, but can usually get on without it. In time of stress
as during the year 1893 this class is very large.
There is especial suffering and neglect among the children
of this class of people : in the last ten years the Children's
Aid Society has received the following children : 6
From iBB? to 2897*
Received from judges and magistrates (so-called delin
quents) ......................
Deserted babies ................ ...
Orphans ......................
Half-orphans, including those with mothers in delicate
health and worthless fathers ; also both parents
worthless .....................
From Blockley Almshouse ..............
Negroes. 7'otaL
19
7
4
181
55
147
448
*From the Society records, by courtesy of the officers.
274 Pauperism and Alcoholism. [Chap. XIV.
From Blockley Almshouse (foundlings) ....... 12 362
From Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children . . 3 45
From County Poor Boards .............. 26 151
no 1389
The total receptions during these ten years have been
1389, of which the Negroes formed 8 per cent. This but
emphasizes the fact of poor family life among the lower
classes which we have spoken of before.
A little better light can be thrown on the problem of
poverty by a study of concrete cases ; for this purpose 237
families have been selected. They live in the Seventh
Ward and are composed of those families of Negroes
whom the Charity Organization Society, Seventh District,
has aided for at least two winters. 7 First, we must notice
that this number nearly corresponds with the previously
estimated per cent of the " very poor." 8 Arranging these
families according to size, we have :
Number in Family. Families. Persons.
I ...
. . 48
2 .
7
. . 61
. . 54
4
IQ
6 ...
. . 10
7 . . . .
. . I
II .. ...
. . I
Unknown - . ,
Total ....
. . 9
. . 234
122
162
124
95
60
7
ii
638
The reported causes of poverty, which were in all cases
verified by visitors so far as possible, were as follows :
7 From the C. O. S. records, Seventh District, by courtesy of Miss
Burke.
8 This coincidence in figures was entirely unnoticed until both had
been worked out by independent methods.
Sect. 41.] Pauperism. 275
Lack of work 115 families.
Sickness, accident, or physical disability ... 39
Death of bread-winner and old age 24
Probable gambling, criminal shiftlessness, etc., 16
Desertion of bread-winner 15
Laziness and improvidence 10
Intemperate use of alcoholic liquors . . . . 8
Financial reverses 7
234 families.
From as careful a consideration of these cases as the
necessarily meagre information of records and visitors
permit, it seems fair to say that Negro poverty in the
Seventh Ward was, in these cases, caused as follows :
By sickness and misfortune 40 per cent.
By lack of steady employment ... ... 30 "
By laziness, improvidence and intemperate drink 20 "
By crime 10 **
Of course this is but a rough estimate ; many of these
causes indirectly influence each other : crime causes sick
ness and misfortune ; lack of employment causes crime ;
laziness causes lack of work, etc.
Several typical families will illustrate the varying con
ditions encountered :
No. i. South Eighteenth street Four in the family ;
husband intemperate drinker; wife decent, but out of
work.
No. 2. South Tenth street. Five in the family; widow
and children out of work, and had sold the bed to pay for
expense of a sick child.
No. 3, Dean street A woman paralyzed; partially sup
ported by a colored church.
No. 4. Carver street. Worthy woman deserted by her
husband five years ago ; helped with coal, but is paying
the Charity Organization Society back again.
No. 5. Hampton street Three in family; living in
three rooms with three other families. " No push, and
improvident"
276 Pauperism and Alcoholism. [Chap. XIV.
No. 6. Stockton street. The woman has just had an
operation performed in the hospital, and cannot work yet.
No. 7. Addison street Three in family; left their work
in Virginia through the misrepresentations of an Arch
street employment bureau ; out of work.
No. 8. Richard street. Laborer injured by falling of a
derrick ; five in the family. His fellow workmen have
contributed to his support, but the employers have given
nothing*
No. 9. Lombard street. Five in family; wife white ;
living in one room ; hard cases ; rum and lies ; pretended
one child was dead in order to get aid.
No. 10. Carver street. Woman and demented son; she
was found very drunk on the street ; plays policy.
No. ii. Lombard street Worthy woman sick with a
tumor ; given temporary aid.
No. 12. Ohio street. Woman and two children deserted
by her husband ; helped to pay her rent.
No. 13. Rodman street A widow and child; out of
work. "One very little room, clean and orderly."
No. 14. Fothergill street Two in the family; the man
sick, half-crazy and lazy; " going to convert Africa and
didn't want to cook ; " given temporary help.
No. 15. Lombard street An improvident young couple
out of work ; living in one untidy room, with nothing to
pay rent
No. 1 6. Lombard street A poor widow of a wealthy
caterer ; cheated out of her property ; has since died.
No. 17. Ivy street A family of four; husband was a
stevedore, but is sick with asthma, and wife out of work ;
decent, but improvident.
No. 1 8. Naudain street Family of three; the man,
who is decent, has broken his leg ; the wife plays policy.
No. 19. South Juniper street Woman and two chil
dren ; deserted by her husband, and in the last stages of
consumption.
Sect 42.] The Drink Habit. 277
No. 20. Radcliffe street. Family of three; borrowed of
Charity Organization Society $1.00 to pay rent, and re
paid it in three weeks.
No. 21. Lombard street "A genteel American white
woman married to a colored man ; he is at present in the
South looking for employment; have one child; 1 ' both
are respectable.
No. 22. Fothergill street. Wife deserted him and two
children, and ran off with a man ; he is out of work ;
asked aid to send his children to friends.
No. 23. Carver street. Man of twenty-three came from
Virginia for work ; was run over by cars at Forty-fifth,
street and Baltimore avenue, and lost both legs and right
arm ; is dependent on colored friends and wants something
to do.
No. 24. Helmuth street. Family of three; man out of
work all winter, and wife with two and one-half days' work
a week ; respectable.
No. -25. Richard street. Widow, niece and baby ; the
niece betrayed and deserted. They ask for work.
42. The Drink Habit. The intemperate use of intoxi
cating liquors is not one of the Negro's special offences ;
nevertheless there is considerable drinking and the use of
beer is on the increase. The Philadelphia liquor saloons
are conducted under an unusually well-administered system,
and are not to so great an extent centres of brawling and
loafing as in other cities ; no amusements, as pool and
billiards, are allowed in rooms where liquor is sold. This
is not an unmixed good for the result is that much of the
drinking is thus driven into homes, clubs and "speak
easies." The increase of beer-drinking among all classes,
black and white, is noticeable ; the beer wagons deliver
large numbers of bottles at private residences, and much is
carried from the saloons in buckets.
An attempt was made in 1897 to count the frequenters
of certain saloons in the Seventh Ward during the hours
278 Pauperism and Alcoholism. [Chap. XIV.
from 8 to 10 on a Saturday night. It was impracticable to
make this count simultaneously or to cover the whole ward,
but eight or ten were watched each night. 9 The results
are a rough measurement of the drinking habits in this ward.
There are in the ward 52 saloons of which 26 were
watched in districts mostly inhabited by Negroes. In these
two hours the following record was made:
Persons entering the saloons :
Negroes male, 1373; female, 213. Whites male,
1445; female, 139.
Of those entering, the following are known to have
carried liquor away :
Negroes male, 238 ; female, 125. Whites male, 275 ;
female, 81.
3170 persons entered half the saloons of the Seventh
Ward in the hours from 8 to 10 of one Saturday night in
December, 1897 ; of these, 1586 were Negroes, and 1584
were whites; 2818 were males, and 352 were females. 10
Of those entering these saloons at this time a part carried
away liquor mostly beer in tin buckets; of those thus
visibly carrying away liquor there were in all 719; of
these 363 were Negroes, and 356 were whites; 513 were
males, and 206 were females.
The observers stationed near these saloons saw, in the
two hours they were there, 79 drunken persons.
The general character of the saloons and their frequenters
can best be learned from a few typical reports. The num
bers given are the official license numbers :
No. 516. Persons entering saloon :
Men white, 40; Negro, 68. Women white, 12;
Negro, 12.
9 1 am indebted to Dr. S. M. I/indsay and the students of the Wharton
School for the carrying ont of this plan.
10 No comparison of the number of Negroes and whites for the ward
can be made, because many of the saloons omitted are frequented by
whites principally.
Sect. 42.] The Drink Habit. 279
Persons carrying liquor away :
Men white, 8 ; Negro, 16. Women white, i ; Negro, 3.
Drunken persons seen, 12.
General character of saloon and frequenters : " A small
corner saloon, kept by a white man. The saloon appears
to be a respectable one and has three entrances : one on
Thirteenth street and the two on a small court The majority
of the colored patrons are poor people and of the working
class. The white patrons are, for the greater part, of the
better class. Among the latter very few were intoxicated."
No. 488. Persons entering:
Men white, 24 ; Negro, 102. Women white, 2 ;
Negro, 3.
Carrying liquor away, 12 ; drunken persons seen, 8.
General character : " The saloon was none too orderly;
policemen remained near all the time ; the Negro men
entering were as a rule well dressed perhaps one-third
were laborers ; the white men were well dressed but
suspicious looking characters."
No. 515. Persons entering :
Men white, 81 ; Negro, 59. Women white, 4 ;
Negro, 10.
Persons carrying liquor away :
Men white, 15 (one a boy of 12 or 14 years of age);
Negro, n. Women white, 4; Negro, 8.
Drunken persons seen, 2 (to one nothing was sold).
General character of saloon and frequenters: "There
were two Negro men and seven white men in saloon
when the count was started. The place has three doors
but all are easily observed. Trade is largely in distilled
liquors, and a great deal is sold in bottles a * barrel
shop. 5
No. 527. Persons entering saloon :
2 So Pattperism and Alcoholism. [Chap. XIV.
8 to 9 P. M. 9 to 10 P. M. Total.
Men, White 49 54 104
" Negro 29 37 68
Women, White 3 3 6
" Negro 5 2 7
88 97 185
Persons carrying liquor away:
Men, White 6 n 17
" Negro 4 9 T 3
Women, White o i i
" Negro 4 o 4
Boys, " i o i
15 21 36
Drunken persons seen, none.
General character of saloon and frequenters : " Quiet,
orderly crowd quick trade no loafing. Three boys were
among those entering."
No. 484. Persons entering saloon :
Men white, 70; Negro, 32. Women white, 10;
Negro, i.
Persons carrying liquor away :
Men white, 10 ; Negro, 12. Women white, 4 ;
Negro, o.
Drunken persons seen, n, six of whom were white and
five black. ' I cannot say that the saloon was responsible
for all of them, but they were all in or about it."
This saloon is in the worst slum section of the ward and
is of bad character. Frequenters were a mixed lot, u fast,
tough, criminal and besotted. "
No. 487. Persons entering :
Men white, 79; Negro, 129. Women white, 13;
Negro, 34.
Persons carrying liquor away :
Men white, 15 ; Negro, 25. Women white, 5 ;
Negro, 8.
Sect. 42.] The Drink Habit. 281
" No drunken men seen. Frequented by a sharp class
of criminals and loafers. Near the notorious < Middle
Alley. 3 "
No. 525.
Total Negroes entering, 14; total whites entering, 13.
" No loafers about the front of the saloon. Streets well
lighted and neighborhood quiet, according to the policeman.
There was a barber shop next door and a saloon on the
corner ten doors below. Very few drunken people were
seen. Trade was most brisk between eight and nine
o'clock. In two hours one more Negro than white entered.
Two more Negroes, men, than whites carried away liquor.
One white man, a German, returned three times for beer in
a kettle. Two Negro women carried beer away in kettles ;
one white woman (Irish) made two trips. All women
entered by side door. The saloon is under a residence,
three stories, corner of Waverly and Eleventh streets.
Waverly street has a Negro population which fairly
swarms good position for Negro trade. Proprietor and
assistant were both Irish. The interior of the saloon was
finished in white pine stained to imitate cherry. Ex
tremely plain. Barkeeper said, c A warm night, but we
are doing very well.' One beggar came in, a colored
* Auntie ;' she wanted bread, not gin. Negroes were well
dressed, as a rule, many smoking. The majority of
frequenters by their bustling air and directness with which
they found the place, showed long acquaintance with the
neighborhood ; especially this corner."
No. 500. Persons entering saloon :
Men white, 40; Negro, 73. Women white 4;
Negro, 6.
Persons carrying liquor away :
Men white, 6; Negro, 23. Women white, 5;
Negro, 4.
Drunken persons seen, i.
282 Pauperism and Alcoholism. [Chap. XIV.
General character of saloon and frequenters: "Four
story building, plain and neat; three entrances; iron
awning ; electric and Welsbach lights. Negroes generally
tidy and appear to be pretty well-to-do. Whites not so
tidy as Negroes and generally mechanics. Almost all
smoke cigars. Liquor carried away openly in pitchers and
kettles. Three of the white women, carrying away liquor,
looked like Irish servant girls. Some of the Negroes
carried bundles of laundry and groceries with them."
Pew general conclusions can be drawn from this data.
The saloon is evidently not so much a moral as an economic
problem among Negroes ; if the 1586 Negroes who went
into the saloons within two hours Saturday night spent five
cents apiece, which is a low estimate, they spent $79.30.
If, as is probable, at least $100 was spent that Saturday
evening throughout the ward, then in a year we would not
be wrong in concluding their Saturday night's expenditure
was at least $5000, and their total expenditure could
scarcely be less than $10,000, and it may reach $20,000 a
large sum for a poor people to spend in liquor.
43. The Causes of Crime and Poverty. A study of
statistics seems to show that the crime and pauperism of
the Negroes exceeds that of the whites ; that in the main,
nevertheless, it follows in its rise and fall the fluctuations
shown in the records of the whites, i. <?., if crime increases
among the whites it increases among Negroes, and vice
versa, with this peculiarity, that among the Negroes the
change is always exaggerated the increase greater, the
decrease more marked in nearly all cases. This is what we
would naturally expect: we have here the record of a low
social class, and as the condition of a lower class is by its
very definition worse than that of a higher, so the situation
of the Negroes is worse as respects crime and poverty than
that of the mass of whites. Moreover, any change in social
conditions is bound to affect the poor and unfortunate more
than the rich and prosperous. We have in all probability
Sect. 43.] The Causes of Crime and Poverty. 283
an example of this in the increase of crime since 1890 ;
we have had a period of financial stress and industrial
depression ; the ones who have felt this most are the poor,
the unskilled laborers, the inefficient and unfortunate, and
those with small social and economic advantages: the
Negroes are in this class, and the result has been an increase
in Negro crime and pauperism; there has also been an
increase in the crime of the whites, though less rapid by
reason of their richer and more fortunate upper classes.
So far, then, we have no phenomena which are new or
exceptional, or which present more than the ordinary social
problems of crime and poverty although these, to be sure,
are difficult enough. Beyond these, however, there are
problems which can rightly be called Negro problems:
they arise from the peculiar history and condition of the
American Negro. The first peculiarity is, of course, the
slavery and emancipation of the Negroes. That their
emancipation has raised them economically and morally is
proven by the increase of wealth and co-operation, and the
decrease of poverty and crime between the period before
the war and the period since ; nevertheless, this was mani
festly no simple process : the first effect of emancipation
was that of any sudden social revolution : a strain upon
the strength and resources of the Negro, moral, economic
and physical, which drove many to the wall. For this reason
the rise of the Negro in this city is a series of rushes and
backslidings rather than a continuous growth. The second
great peculiarity of the situation of the Negroes is the fact
of immigration ; the great numbers of raw recruits who
have from time to time precipitated themselves upon the
Negroes of the city and shared their small industrial oppor
tunities, have made reputations which, whether good or bad,
all their race must share ; and finally whether they failed or
succeeded in the strong competition, they themselves must
soon prepare to face a new immigration.
Here then we have two great causes for the present
284 Pauperism and Alcoholism. [Chap. XIV.
condition of the Negro : Slavery and emancipation with
their attendant phenomena of ignorance, lack of discipline,
and moral weakness ; immigration with its increased com
petition and moral influence. To this must be added a
third as great possibly greater in influence than the other
two, namely the environment in which a Negro finds him
self the world of custom and thought in which he must
live and work, the physical surrounding of house and
home and ward, the moral encouragements and discourage
ments which he encounters. We dimly seek to define this
social environment partially when we talk of color prejudice
but this is but a vague characterization ; what we want
to study is not a vague thought or feeling but its concrete
manifestations. We know pretty well what the surround
ings are of a young white lad, or a foreign immigrant who
comes to this great city to join in its organic life. We
know what influences and limitations surround him, to
what he may attain, what his companionships are, what his
encouragements are, what his drawbacks.
This we must know in regard to the Negro if we would
study his social condition. His strange social environment
must have immense effect on his thought and life, his work
and crime, his wealth and pauperism. That this environ
ment differs and differs broadly from the environment of
his fellows, we all know, but we do not know just how it
differs. The real foundation of the difference is the wide
spread feeling all over the land, in Philadelphia as well as
in Boston and New Orleans, that the Negro is something
less than an American and ought not to be much more
than what he is. Argue as we may for or against this
idea, we must as students recognize its presence and its
vast effects.
At the Eastern Penitentiary where they seek so far as
possible to attribute to definite causes the criminal record
of each prisoner, the vast influence of environment is
shown. This estimate is naturally liable to error, but the
Sect. 43.] The Causes of Crime and Poverty, 285
peculiar system of this institution and the long service and
wide experience of the warden and his subordinates gives
it a peculiar and unusual value. Of the 541 Negro prison
ers previously studied 191 were catalogued as criminals by
reason of " natural and inherent depravity. " The others
were divided as follows :
Crimes due to
(a) Defects of the law :
Laxity in administration 33
Unsuitable laws for minor offences 48
Inefficient police , 22
License given to the young 16
Inefficient laws in regard to saloons . .... u
Poor institutions and lack of institutions 12
142
(&) Immediate environment:
Association . . 53
Amusements 16
Home and family influences 25
94
(c) Lack of training, lack of opportunity, lack of
desire to work 56
(d) General environment 6
(e) Disease 16
(_/") Moral weakness and unknown 36
114
This rough judgment of men who have come into daily
contact with five hundred Negro criminals but emphasizes
the fact alluded to ; the immense influence of his peculiar
environment on the black Philadelphian ; the influence of
homes badly situated and badly managed, with parents
untrained for their responsibilities ; the influence of social
surroundings which by poor laws and inefficient adminis
tration leave the bad to be made worse ; the influence of
economic exclusion which admits Negroes only to those
parts of the economic world where it is hardest to retain
ambition and self-respect ; and finally that indefinable but
real and mighty moral influence that causes men to have
286 Pauperism and Alcoholism. [Chap. XIV.
a real sense of manhood or leads them to lose aspiration
and self-respect.
Kor the last ten or fifteen years young 1 Negroes have
been ponring into this city at the rate of a thousand a
year \ the question is then what homes they find or make,
what neighbors they have, how they amuse themselves,
and what work they engage in ? Again, into what sort of
homes are the hundreds of Negro babies of each year
born? Under what social influences do they come, what
is the tendency of their training, and what places in life
can they fill ? To answer all these questions is to go far
toward finding the real causes of crime and pauperism
among this race ; the next two chapters, therefore, take up
the question of environment.
CHAPTER XV.
THE ENVIRONMENT OF THE NEGRO.
44. Houses and Rent. The Inquiry of 1848 returned
quite full statistics of rents paid by the Negroes. 1 In
the whole city at that date 4019 Negro families paid
$199,665.46 in rent, or an average of $49.68 per family
each year. Ten years earlier the average was $44 per
family. Nothing better indicates the growth of the Negro
population in numbers and power when we compare with
this the figures for 1896 for one ward ; in that year the
Negroes of the Seventh Ward paid $25,699.50 each month
in rent, or $308,034 a year, an average of $126.19 per
annum for each family. This ward may have a somewhat
higher proportion of renters than most other wards. At
the lowest estimate, however, the Negroes of Philadelphia
pay at least $1,250,000 in rent each year. 2
The table of rents for 1848 is as follows (see page 288):
We see that in 1848 the average Negro family rented by
the month or quarter, and paid between four and five dol
lars per month rent. The highest average rent for any
section was less than fifteen dollars a month. For such
rents the poorest accommodations were afforded, and we
know from descriptions that the mass of Negroes had small
and unhealthful homes, usually on the back streets and
alleys. The rents paid to-day in the Seventh Ward,
according to the number of rooms, are tabulated on
page 289.
1 ** Condition,** etc., 1848, p. 16.
2 Not taking into account sub-rent repaid by sub-tenants ; subtracting
this and the sum would be, perhaps, $1,000,000 see infra* p. 291.
That paid by single lodgers ought not, of course, to be subtracted as it
has not been added in.
(287)
288
77ie Environment of the Negro. [Chap. XV.
vo Tf r oo
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Sect. 44.]
Houses and Rent.
289
NEGRO HOMES, ACCORDING TO RENTS AND ROOMS.*
Seventh Ward, Philadelphia.
Amount of Rent
per Month.
Number of Rooms.
Grand
Total
j Rent.
One aiid
less,
H
|
J-c
c
I
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E
.S
/3
Seven.
is
!w
4J
j
5
1
So C3
>:*
*^:p2
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Free
4
I
I
fe-oo
12.00
I5-OO
108.00
59-50
66O.OO-
1134.00
88.00
1254.00
65.00
679.00
67.50
1648.00
IO2.00
747-00
9-50
1 1 10.00
2I.OO
363.00
23.00
139-00
569.00
700.00
II7O.OO
960.0O
221. OO
1620.00
209.00
2300.00
294 oo
66o.OO
IOI2.CO
1 20. 00
3275-00
972.OO
1470 oo
875.00
560.00
135-00
100.00
65.00
75.00
$1 OO
I. SJO .
2
5
6
36
17
161
237
14
17 1
39
2
88
3
2 OO . .
I
2 qo ...
3 nn
2 CO . .
4OO .....
4
II
2
18
4
ii
I
28
2
2
A SCO
3
I
5 CO . .
6 oo .....
15
i
6 50
700
47
5
76
10
68
i
7 co . .
I
9
8 oo
4
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8 ro
o oo
9
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.
IO OO
*7
8
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*8
43
2
19
2
48
II
8
IO
32
7
3
I
10 50
II OO
10
3
II 50
12 OO
46
18
17
15
5
25
10
13
18
21
ii
3
Q
31
28
i
50
3
ii
8
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I
2
5
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20
2
35
5
12
8
3
27
4
6
2
I
T7 OO
14. oo
15.00
i
i
6
2
16
4
5
18
i
33
3
i
i
2
I
7
2
2
7
i
21
15
15
4
i
i
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12
3
6
4
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I
9
2
10
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16.00
17.00
18.00
i
-
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19.00 . . .
20 oo
2
4
21 OO
22 OO . .
2 1 * OO ....
2
2 A OO . .
25.00 ....
26 0028 oo .
I
2
2
I
21
I
2
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I
30 oo
2C OO ...
4.O OO .....
AC OO -
7C. OO
T
Owned and un
known ....
21
.
3
2
4
12
12
29
16
12
14
51
.$25*699-50
Total rent per year $308,034*
>nth per family, $10.50+
Total rent pr month
Total rent per year
Aver, rent per mont!
Aver, rent per year per family . $126.19
Aver, rent per year per indmdnal,$3i.S.j
3 The returns as to rents paid are among the most reliable of the statis
tics gathered. The amount of rent is always well known, and there are
29 The Environment of the Negro. [Chap. XV.
Condensing this table somewhat we find that the Negroes
pay rent as follows :
Under $5 per month 490 families> or 21.9 per cent.
$5 and under $10 643
$10 " $15 380
$15 " " $20 252
$20 $30 375
$30 and over 95
28.7
17.0
"3
17.0
The lodging system so prevalent in the Seventh Ward
makes some rents appear higher than the real facts warrant.
This ward is in the centre of the city, near the places of
employment for the mass of the people and near the centre
of their social life ; consequently people crowd here in
great numbers. Young couples just married engage lodg
ing in one or two rooms ; families join together and hire
one house ; and numbers of families take in single lodgers ;
thus the population of the ward is made up of
Families owning or renting their homes and living
alone 738, or 31 per cent.
Families owning or renting their homes, who take
lodgers or sul>renters 937, " 38 "
Families sub-renting under other families 766, " 31 "
Total individuals .... * 7751 100 "
Total families , . 2441
Individuals lodging with families 1924
Total individuals 9675
The practice of sub-renting is found of course in all
degrees : from the business of boarding-house keeper to the
few motives for deception. Moreover in Philadelphia there is a tendency
to build rows and streets of houses with the same general design. These
rent for the same sum, and thus particular instances of false report are
easily detected. One feature of the returns must be noted, 2. e, , the large
number of cases where high rents are paid for one- and two-room tene
ments. In nearly all of these cases this rent is paid for large front bed
rooms in good localities, and often includes furniture. Sometimes a
limited use of the family kitchen is also included. In such cases it is
misleading to call these one-room tenements. No other arrangement,
however, seemed practical in these tables.
Sect. 44.]
Houses and Rent.
291
case of a family which rents out its spare bed-chamber. In
the first case the rent is practically all repaid, and must in
some cases be regarded as income ; in the other cases a
small fraction of the rent is repaid and the real rent and
the size of the home reduced. I^et us endeavor to deter
mine what proportion of the rents of the Seventh Ward
are repaid in sub-rents, omitting some boarding and lodging-
houses where the sub-rent is really the income of the house
wife. In most cases the room-rent of lodgers covers some
return for the care of the room. The next table gives
detailed statistics :
PROPORTION OF RENT REPAID IN SUB-RENT.
Negroes of Seventh Ward, Philadelphia.
Proportion Repaid
in Sub-rent.
Monthly Rent Paid: Dollars
Total Families.
Appro;xi-
Total
Sub-rent:
Dollars.
u
CJ
a
IO
Over sand under 8.
a
a
Tf
a
CO
u
a
3
s
I
12 and under 15.
CO
Is
03
i8 and under 20.
20 and under 25.
a
4J
a
03
I
4
f!
19
14
o
a
oS,
6
i
o
II
14
6
6
i
IO
a
a
a
I
I
I
I
62
One-eighth rep'd
One-sixth *
One-fourth
One- third
One-half
Two-thirds
Three-fourths
Four-fifths
Whole rent
More than the
whole rent re
paid ....
I
4
19
2
99
170
243
109
80
2
94
62
61.08
9.16
460.51
871.33
1748.75
1246.33
1201.08
48.00
Ul67.00
88n.24
I
2
2
3
17
2
2
I
18
37
ii
4
I
16
20
6
2
8 23
45 26
17 26
24 ii
6 ii
16
8
2 3
IO
7
13
2
31
17
55
7
23
I
19
14
I
2
ii
4
3
3
12
:
Unknown . . .
Total families .
Approximate
total of sub-
rent repaid
monthly - . .
It appears from this table that nearly $9000 is paid by
the sub-renting families and lodgers to the renting families.
A part of this ought to be subtracted from the total rent
292 The Environment of the Negro. [Chap. XV.
paid if we would get at the net rent; just how much,
however, should be called wages for care of room, or
other conveniences furnished sub-renters, it is difficult to
say. Possibly the net rent of the ward is $20,000, and of
the city about $i,ooo,ooo. 4
The accommodations furnished for the rent paid must
now be considered. The number of rooms occupied is the
simplest measurement, but is not very satisfactory in this
case owing to the lodging system which makes it difficult
to say how many rooms a family really occupies. A very
large number of families of two and three rent a single
bedroom and these must be regarded as one-room tenants,
and yet this renting of a room often includes a limited
use of a common kitchen ; on the other hand this sub
renting family cannot in justice be counted as belonging
to the renting family. The figures are:
829 families live in I room, including families lodging, or 35.2 per cent.
104 " " " 2 rooms or 4.4 "
371 " " " 3 " or J 5.7
r 7 " " "4 "\ or I2 7
127 " " " 5 " J 7
754 " " " 6 " or more or 32.0 "
The number of families occupying one room is here
exaggerated as before shown by the lodging system ; on
the other hand the number occupying six rooms and more
is also somewhat exaggerated by the fact that not all
sub-rented rooms have been subtracted, although this has
been done as far as possible.
Of the 2441 families only 334 had access to bathrooms
and water-closets, or 13.7 per cent. Even these 334 fami
lies have poor accommodations in most instances. Many
share the use of one bathroom with one or more other
families. The bath-tubs usually are not supplied with hot
water and very often have no water-connection at all. This
condition is largely owing to the fact that the Seventh
4 Here, again, the proportion paid by single lodgers must not be sub
tracted as it has not been added in before.
Sect 44.]
Houses and Rent.
293
Ward belongs to the older part of Philadelphia, built
when vaults in the yards were used exclusively and bath
rooms could not be given space in the small houses. This
was not so unhealthful before the houses were thick
and when there were large back yards. To-day, however,
the back yards have been filled by tenement houses and the
bad sanitary results are shown in the death rate of the ward.
Even the remaining yards are disappearing. Of the
1751 families making returns, 932 had a private yard
12x12 feet, or larger ; 312 had a private yard smaller than
12x12 feet ; 507 had either no yard at all or a yard and
outhouse in common with the other denizens of the tene
ment or alley.
Of the latter only sixteen families had water-closets. So
that over 20 per cent and possibly 30 per cent of the Negro
families of this ward lack some of the very elementary
accommodations necessary to health and decency. And
this too in spite of the fact that they are paying compara
tively high rents. Here too there comes another consider
ation, and that is the lack of public urinals and water-closets
in this ward and, in fact, throughout Philadelphia. The
result is that the closets of tenements are used by the
public. A couple of diagrams will illustrate this ; the
houses of older Philadelphia were built like this :
A HOME
B OUTHOUSE
C YARD
O PASSAGE TO STREET
When, however, certain districts like the Seventh Ward
became crowded and given over to tenants, the thirst for
294
The Environment of the Negro. [Chap. XV.
money-getting led landlords in large numbers of cases to
build up their back yards like this :
A FRONT TENEMENT FACING ST.
C BACK TENEMENT FACING ALLEY
D ALLEY
R COMMON OUTHOUSE
FOR 3 TENANTS
This is the origin of numbers of the blind alleys and
dark holes which make some parts of the Fifth, Seventh
and Eighth Wards notorious. The closets in such cases are
sometimes divided into compartments for different tenants,
but in many cases not even this is done ; and in all cases
the alley closet becomes a public resort for pedestrians and
loafers. The back tenements thus formed rent usually for
from $7 to $9 a month, and sometimes for more. They
consist of three rooms one above the other, small, poorly
lighted and poorly ventilated. The inhabitants of the
alley are at the mercy of its worst tenants ; here policy
shops abound, prostitutes ply their trade, and criminals
hide. Most of these houses have to get their water at a
hydrant in the alley, and must store their fuel in the
house. These tenement abominations of Philadelphia are
perhaps better than the vast tenement houses of New York,
but they are bad enough, and cry for reform in housing.
The fairly comfortable working class live in houses of
3-6 rooms, with water in the house, but seldom with a
bath. A three room house on a small street rents from
$10 up ; on Lombard street a 5-8 room house can be
rented for from $18 to $30 according to location. The
great mass of comfortably situated working people live in
houses of 6-10 rooms, and sub-rent a part or take lodgers.
A 5-7 room house on South Eighteenth street can be had
for $20; on Florida street for $18 ; such, houses have
Sect. 44.] Houses and Rent. 295
usually a parlor, dining room and kitchen on the first floor
and two to four bedrooms, of which one or two are apt to
be rented to a waiter or coachman for $4 a month, or to a
married couple at $6-10 a month. ' The more elaborate
houses are on I^ombard street and its cross streets.
The rents paid by the Negroes are without doubt far
above their means and often from one-fourth to three-fourths
of the total income of a family goes in rent This leads to
much non-payment of rent both intentional and uninten
tional, to frequent shifting of homes, and above all to
stinting the families in many necessities of life in order to
live in respectable dwellings. Many a Negro family eats
less than it ought for the sate of living in a decent
house.
Some of this waste of money in rent is sheer ignorance
and carelessness. The Negroes have an inherited distrust
of banks and companies, and have long neglected to take
part in Building and Ix>an Associations. Others are simply
careless in the spending of their money and lack the
shrewdness and business sense of differently trained peoples,
Ignorance and carelessness however will not explain all
or even the greater part of the problem of rent among
Negroes. There are three causes of even greater impor
tance : these are the limited localities where Negroes may
rent, the peculiar connection of dwelling and occupation
among Negroes and the social organization of the Negro.
The undeniable fact that most Philadelphia white people
prefer not to live near Negroes 5 limits the Negro very
seriously in his choice of a home and especially in the
choice of a cheap home. Moreover, real estate agents
knowing the limited supply usually raise the rent a dollar
or two for Negro tenants, if they do not refuse them
altogether. Again, the occupations which the Negro
follows, and which at present he is compelled to follow, are
5 The sentiment has greatly lessened in intensity during the last two
decades, but it is still strong ; cf. section 47,
296 The Environment of the Negro. [Chap. XV.
of a sort that makes it necessary for him to live near the
best portions of the city ; the mass of Negroes are in the
economic world purveyors to the rich working in private
houses, in hotels, large stores, etc. 6 In order to keep this
work they must live near by; the laundress cannot bring
her Spruce street family's clothes from the Thirtieth Ward,
nor can the waiter at the Continental Hotel lodge in
Oermantown. With the mass of white workmen this same
necessity of living near work, does not hinder them from
getting cheap dwellings ; the factory is surrounded by
cheap cottages, the foundry by long rows of houses, and
even the white clerk and shop girl can, on account of their
hours of labor, afford to live further out iu the suburbs
than the black porter who opens the store. Thus it is
clear that the nature of the Negro's work compels him to
crowd into the centre of the city much more than is the
case with the mass of white working people. At the same
time this necessity is apt in some cases to be overestimated,
and a few hours of sleep or convenience serve to persuade
a good many families to endure poverty in the Seventh
Ward when they might be comfortable in the Twenty-
fourth Ward. Nevertheless much of the Negro problem in
this city finds adequate explanation when we reflect that
here is a people receiving a little lower wages than usual
for less desirable work, and compelled, in order to do that
work, to live in a little less pleasant quarters than most
people, and pay for them somewhat higher rents.
The final reason of the concentration of Negroes in
certain localities is a social one and one peculiarly strong :
the life of the Negroes of the city has for years centred in
the Seventh Ward ; here are the old churches, St. Thomas',
Bethel, Central, Shiloh and Wesley ,* here are the halls of
the secret societies ; here are the homesteads of old families.
To a race socially ostracised it means far more to move to
6 At the same time, from long custom and from competition, their
-wages for this work are not high.
Sect 44.] Houses and Rent. 297
remote parts of a city, than to those who will in any part
of the city easily form congenial acquaintances and new ties.
The Negro who ventures away from the mass of his people
and their organized life, finds himself alone, shunned and
taunted, stared at and made uncomfortable ; he can make
few new friends, for his neighbors however well-disposed
would shrink to add a Negro to their list of acquaint
ances. Thus he remains far from friends and the con
centred social life of the church, and feels in all its
bitterness what it means to be a social outcast. Con
sequently emigration from the ward has gone in groups and
centred itself about some church, and individual initiative
is thus checked. At the same time color prejudice makes
it difficult for groups to find suitable places to move to
one Negro family would be tolerated where six would be
objected to ; thus we have here a very decisive hindrance
to emigration to the suburbs.
It is not surprising that this situation leads to consider
able crowding in the homes, i. e. , to the endeavor to get as
many people into the space hired as possible. It is this
crowding that gives the casual observer many false notions
as to the size of Negro families, since he often forgets that
every other house has its sub-renters and lodgers. It is
however difficult to measure this crowding on account of
this very lodging system which makes it very often un
certain as to just the number of rooms a given group of
people occupy. In the following table therefore it is likely
that the number of rooms given is somewhat greater than is
really the case and that consequently there is more crowd
ing than is indicated. This error however could not be
wholly eliminated under the circumstances ; a study of the
table (page 298) shows that in the Seventh Ward there are
9302 rooms occupied by 2401 families, an average of 3.8
rooms to a family, and 1.04 individuals to a room. A
division by rooms will better show where the crowding
comes in.
298
o
g
I
w
1
P
<
8
O
u
o
o
w
The Environment of the Negro. [Chap. XV.
O O *o rt- 1000 vo ^ o o co
t^M NOO rot^corf lOCO O
--
J3AO pH
^ cO . ^ . t* .
OAS.X
VH <N . M M (N
M CO CS M .
CS cO CS w CO M CS IO
. H . to O ^vo ir> cs .
r>.oo t>- 10 cs
toco TJ- cs >-i
-rJ-M
* CS H
- IO tO\O . H
S '
*TJ
'Sg
61-3
"^ 1> ^^ t^ "
>
Sect. 45.] Sections and Wards. 299
Families occupying five rooms and less: 1648, total rooms
per family, 2.17 ; total individuals per room, 1.53.
Families occupying three rooms and less: 1350, total rooms
per family, 1.63 ; total individuals per room, 1.85.
The worst cases of crowding are as follows :
Two cases of 10 persons in i room.
One case of 9 " i **
Five cases of 7 " i "
Six cases of 6 " i "
Twenty-five cases of 5 persons in I room.
One case of 9 persons in 2 rooms.
One case of 16 " 3 "
One case of 13 " 3 f<
One case of n " 3 "
As said before, this is probably something under the real
truth, although perhaps not greatly so. The figures show
considerable overcrowding, but not nearly as much as is
often the case in other cities. This is largely due to the
character of Philadelphia houses, which are small and low,
and will not admit many inmates. Five persons in one
room of an ordinary tenement would be almost suffocating.
The large number of one-room tenements with two persons
should be noted. These 573 families are for the most part
young or childless couples, sub-renting a bedroom and
working in the city. 7
45. Sections and Wards. The spread of Negro popu
lation in the city during the nineteenth century is worth
studying. In I793, 8 one-fourth of the black inhabitants
or 538 persons lived north of Market street and south
of Vine, and were either in the homes of white families as
T One room under such circumstances may not by any means denote
excessive poverty or indecency ; the room is usually rented in a good
locality and is well furnished. Cf. note 3.
8 During the plague of that year a census of the inhabitants remain
ing in the city was taken. Five-sixths of the Negroes remained, so the
census gives a good idea of the distribution of the Negro population.
The results are published in the report printed afterward by order of
Councils.
300
The Environment of the Negro. [Chap. XV.
servants, or in the alleys, as Shively's, Pewter Platter,
Croomb's, Sugar, Cresson's, etc. Between Market and South
lived one-half of the blacks, crowded in a region that cen
tred at Sixth and Lombard : in Strawberry alley and lane,
Elbow lane, Grey's alley, Shippen's alley, etc., besides in
the families of the whites on Walnut, Spruce, Pine, etc.
The remaining fourth of the population was in Southwark,
south of South street, and in the Northern Liberties, north
of Vine. Details are given in the next table :
NUMBER AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE NEGRO INHABITANTS OF PHII,A-
DEI.PHIA IN 1793 OCTOBER TO DECEMBER.
(Taken from the Census of the Plague Committee.)
BETWEEN MARKET AND VINE STREETS.
Streets, etc.
Market
Water
Front
Second
Third
Fourth .....
Fifth
Sixth
Seventh ....
Eighth
Ninth
Arch
Race
Vine (south side)
New
Church alley . .
Negroes.
63
31
40
29
37
42
24
32
8
13
3
56
38
9
3
2
Streets, etc.
Quarry
Cherry alley . , .
South alley . . .
North alley ....
Sugar alley ....
Appletree alley . .
Cresson's alley . .
Shively's alley . .
Pewter Platter alley
Croomb's alley . .
Baker's alley . . .
Brooks* court . . .
Priest's alley . . .
Says alley ....
Total,
BETWEEN MARKET AND SOUTH STREETS.
Streets, etc.
Negroes.
Streets, etc.
Water ........ 12
Front. ........ 129
Second
Third. .
Fourth .
Fifth . .
Sixth . .
Seventh
Eighth .
Ninth .
116
66
Si
63
37
o
Penn
Chestnut
Walnut
Spruce
Pine
South (north side)
Strawberry lane . .
Strawberry alley .
Elbow lane . . . .
Beetles' alley . . .
Negroes.
4
25
I
4
14
7
10
ii
3
5
7
. i
6
6
538
Negroes.
II
50
83
66
3i
32
4
2
10
5
Sect. 45.]
Sections and Wards.
301
Streets, etc.
Negroes. Streets, etc.
Negroes.
13 Willing's alley . . .
I
Norris alley
4 Blackberry alley . .
2
Dock
5 Carpenter
7
Union
32 Gaskill . .
7
Cypress alley
i Georges to South . .
5
Pear
5 Little Water . . . .
5
Lombard .......
57 Stamper's alley . . ,
8
Btnslie's alley
6 Taylor's alley. . . .
i
Laurel court
I York court
7
Shippen's alley ....
26
Total. .
1007
NORTHERN LIBERTIES.
Streets, etc, Negroes. Streets, etc.
Negroes,
Water .
I Green
6
Front
59 Coates .......
32
Second ........
41 Brown
15
Third
I Cable lane
I
Fourth
3 Stjohn ......
6
Fifth
T Stt T^-mmany r . . .
2
Vine (north side) . . .
18 Willow
I
Callowhill
10 Wood's alley ....
I
Noble, or Bloody lane .
4 Crown
3
Artillery lane (or Duke)
26
Total. .
233
DISTRICT OP SOUTHWARD
Streets, etc.
Negroes. Streets, etc.
Negroes.
Swanson
6
South Penn
3 Queen .......
5
Front
Second
3
Third.
5
Fifth
5 Moll Tuller's alley .
4
Cedar court (south side)
19 George .......
8
Shippen
50 Ball alley ......
3
Almond
Catharine
33
Total . .
. 258
SUMMARY.
Between Market and Vine streets
538
Between Market and
South streets
1007
North of Vine street
233
South of South street *
, 258
Total .
2036
Total inhabitants of
county by census of 1790 . . . .
2489
The Environment of the Negro. [Chap. XV.
The changes from 1793 to 1838, nearly a half century,
may thus be shown:
Place.
1793.
1838.
City
jr^r 75.O %
8462 60 fo
Northern I/iberties
^
8781
Kensington . ...
1 211 II. ^^
"^Q ? 1744. 1^^
Spring Garden ....
57 )
Southward .... . ...
Moyamensing
} 25813.5$
2 AC A [33^5 2 5/o
^
^
Total
20l6
I3i 59 1 +5000 servants.
Thus we see in 1838 that the centre of Negro population
had gone southward toward Moyamensing. The Cedar,
Locust, Newmarket, Pine and South Wards, as they were
then called, had the bulk of the population, and they cor
responded approximately to the Fourth, Fifth, Seventh and
Eighth Wards of to-day.
Ten years later than this, in 1848^ we have a more
detailed account of the distribution of the Negroes in the
various sections of the city. They were mostly crowded
into narrow courts and alleys. The colored population
north of Vine and east of Sixth streets consisted of 272
families with 1285 persons. One hundred and one families
of these (415 persons) lived on Apple street and its courts,
and in PaschalPs alley (now Lynd street). Apple street
itself, including Hick's court, had 37 families, with 138
persons, living in 16 houses; Shotwell's row, on the same
street, had 16 families with 65 persons in 7 houses ; the
rooms were about 8 feet square. Paschall's alley contained
48 families with 212 persons, in 28 houses ; one house had
7 families, 33 persons, living in 13 rooms, 8 feet square.
The rent of the whole house was $266 per year ; " yet all
of them \i. <?., these families] have comfortable beds and
bedding."
About a third of the total Negro population of Moya-
8 The figures for 1838 and 18
cf. census of 1840.
are from the inquiries of those dates ;
Sect. 45.] Sections and Wards.
33
mensing (the district " south of Cedar street and west of
Passyunk road 5> ) was crowded into the space between Fifth
and Eighth streets, and Sonth and Fitzwater ; for instance :
Families. Families.
Shippen street 55 Black Horse alley , 5
Bedford street ........ 63 Button's court 9
Small street 73 Yeager's court 9
Baker street 21 Dickerson's court 5
Seventh, and South, streets . . 14 Britton's court 5
Spafford street 16 Cryder's court 4
Freytag's alley 9 Sherman's court 13
Prosperous alley II
Total 302
" It is in this district and in the adjoining portion of the
city, especially Mary street and its vicinity, that the great
destitntion and wretchedness exist" The personal property
of 176 of the above 302 families is returned as $603.50, or
$3.43 per family ; 15 families (42 persons) on Small street
(Alaska street) above Sixth, have their whole property val
ued at $7. Most of these Negroes were rag-pickers, and 29
out of 42 families were not natives of the State. Mary
street and its courts had 80 families, with 281 persons living
in 35 houses. Some were industrious and temperate, but
there was "much surrounding misery.' > In Gile's alley
(from Cedar to Lombard street) were 42 families, 147 per
sons, in 20 houses. Eighty-three of these persons were not
natives of the State, and 13 of the families received public
charity. A description of this district in 1847 is inte
resting :
" The vicinity of the place we sought was pointed out
by a large number of colored people congregated on the
neighboring pavements. We first inspected the rooms,
yards and cellars of the four or five houses next above
Baker street on Seventh* The cellars were wretchedly
dark, damp and dirty, and were generally rented for twelve
and a half cents per night. These are occupied by one or
more families at the present time, but in the winter season
when the frost drives those who in summer sleep abroad in
304 The Environment of the Negro. [Chap. XV.
fields, in boardyards and in sheds, to seek more effectual
shelter, they often contain from twelve to twenty lodgers
per night Commencing at the back of each house are
small wooden buildings roughly put together, about six
feet square, without windows or fireplaces, a hole about a
foot square being left in front along side of the door to let
in fresh air and light, and to let out foul air and smoke.
These desolate pens, the roofs of which are generally leaky,
and their floors so low that more or less water comes in on
them from the yard in rainy weather, would not give com
fortable winter accommodations to a cow. Although as
dismal as dirt, damp and insufficient ventilation can make
them, they are nearly all inhabited. In one of the first we
entered, we found the dead body of a large Negro man
who had died suddenly there. This pen was about eight
feet deep by six wide. There was no bedding in it, but a
box or two around the sides furnished places where two
colored persons, one said to be the wife of the deceased,
were lying either drunk or fast asleep. The body of the dead
man was on the wet floor beneath an old torn coverlet." 10
In 1853 a similar description of the crime, filth and
poverty of this district shows us that the present slums
do not compare with those in misfortune and deprav
ity. u Much of this poverty and degradation could in
1847 be laid at the door of the new immigrants, and
although some of the immigrants were in good circum
stances, yet in general most of the poverty was found
where most of the immigrants were. The immigrants
formed the following percentages of the total population in
1847:
City 47.7 per cent.
Moyamensing 46.3 "
Southwark 35.9 "
West Philadelphia 34.3 "
Spring Garden 31.4 "
Northern Liberties 14.2 "
10 " Condition of Negroes," 1848, pp. 34-41.
11 " Mysteries and Miseries of Philadelphia.'* (Pamphlet)
Sect. 45.] Sections and Wards. 305
The historic centre of Negro settlement in the city can
thus be seen to be at Sixth and Lombard. From this point
it moved north, as is indicated for instance by the estab
lishment of Zoar Church in 1794. Immigration of foreign
ers and the rise of industries, however, early began to turn
it back and it found outlet in the alleys of Southwark and
Moyarnensing. For a while about 1840 it was bottled up
here, but finally it began to move west. A few early left
the mass and settled in West Philadelphia ; the rest began
a slow steady movement along Lombard street. The
influx of 1876 and thereafter sent the wave across Broad
street to a new centre at Seventeenth and Lombard. There
it divided into two streams ; one went north and joined
remnants of the old settlers in the Northern Liberties and
Spring Garden. The other went south to the Twenty-
sixth, Thirtieth and Thirty-sixth Wards. Meantime the
new immigrants poured in at Seventh and Lombard, while
Sixth and Lombard down to the Delaware was deserted to
the Jews, and Moyamensing partially to the Italians.
The Irish were pushed on beyond Eighteenth to the
Schuylkill, or emigrated to the mills of Kensington and
elsewhere. The course may be thus graphically repre
sented (see page 306) :
This migration explains much that is paradoxical about
Negro slums, especially their present remnant at Seventh
and Lombard. Many people wonder that the mission and
reformatory agencies at work there for so many years have
so little to show by way of results. One answer is that
this work has new material continually to work upon,
while the best classes move to the west and leave the dregs
behind. The parents and grandparents of some of the
best families of Philadelphia Negroes were born in the
neighborhood of Sixth and Lombard at a time when all
Negroes, good, bad and indifferent, were confined to that
and a few other localities. With the greater freedom of
domicile which has since coine, these slum districts have
306
The Environment of the Negro. [Chap. XV.
sent a stream of emigrants westward. There has, too, been
a general movement from the alleys to the streets and
from the back to the front streets. Moreover it is untrue
MIGRATION OF THE NEGRO POPULATION, 1790-1890.
that the slums of Seventh and Lombard have not greatly
changed in character ; compared with 1840, 1850 or even
1870 these slums are much improved in every way. More
Sect. 45.] Sections and Wards.
and more every year the unfortunate and poor are being
sifted out from the vicious and criminal and sent to better
quarters.
And yet with all the obvious improvement, there are still
slums and dangerous slums left. Of the Fifth Ward and ad
joining parts of the Seventh, a city health inspector says :
" Few of the houses are underdrained, and if the closets
have sewer connections the people are too careless to keep
them in order. The streets and alleys are strewn with
garbage, excepting immediately after the visit of the street
cleaner. Penetrate into one of these houses and beyond
into the back yard, if there is one (frequently there is not),
and there will be found a pile of ashes, garbage and filth,
the accumulation of the winter, perhaps of the whole year.
In such heaps of refuse what disease germ may be breed
ing?- 12
To take a typical case :
" Gillis* Alley, famed in the Police Court, is a narrow
alley, extending from Ix>mbard street through to South
street, above Fifth street, cobbled and without sewer con
nections. Houses and stables are mixed promiscuously.
Buildings are of frame and of brick. No. looks both
outside and in like a Southern Negro's cabin. In this
miserable place four colored families have their homes.
The aggregate rent demanded is $22 a month, though the
owner seldom receives the full rent For three small dark
rooms in the rear of another house in this alley, the tenants
pay, and have paid for thirteen years, $11 a month. The
entrance is by a court not over two feet wide. Except at
midday the sun does not shine in the small open space in
the rear that answers for a yard. It is safe to say that not
one house in this alley could pass an inspection without
being condemned as prejudicial to health. But if they are
so condemned and cleaned, with such inhabitants how long
will they remain clean?" u
12 Dr. Frances Van Gasken in a tract published by tlie Civic Club.
18 Ibid.
308
Environment of the Negro. [Chap. XV.
Some of the present characteristics of the chief alleys
where Negroes live are given in the following table :
I -d 1 ij a & I
I I S " I! S * I 3
PB
I!I
g 1 1 ?S i
fc U
JBO 50 -(
n j
S
2a
I 3
? -3
" S
Old W
en Ho
01
l^i.
till
-HT I
inj;qnoa PUB
jooj is
I
rt
s
{25
w
tn
I,
M *
r< CO
'! -
SC2
s
i S3THOH
m
k Yard
ements
n !
B 3i
R g H'
ag
cS t)
> cO
^ I >*
I *a
W S^
"stands PJB
b- u
5 1
s S
o
5
rt *o
W TT*
O ^
8f S
S ^
rf
2. *n
)4 fw
Sect. 46.] Social Classes and Amusements. 309
The general characteristics and distribution of the Negro
population at present in the different wards can only be
indicated in general terms. The wards with the best Negro
population are parts of the Seventh, Twenty-sixth, Thir
tieth and Thirty-sixth, Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Twenty-
fourth, Twenty-seventh and Twenty-ninth. The worst
Negro population is found in parts of the Seventh, and in
the Fourth, Fifth and Eighth. In the other wards either
the classes are mixed or there are very few colored people.
The tendency of the best migration to-day is toward the
Twenty-sixth, Thirtieth and Thirty-sixth Wards, and West
Philadelphia.
46. Social Classes and Amusements. Notwithstanding
the large influence of the physical environment of home
and ward, nevertheless there is a far mightier influence to
mold and make the citizen, and that is the social atmos
phere which surrounds him: first his daily companionship,
the thoughts and whims of his class ; then his recreations
and amusements ; finally the surrounding world of Ameri
can civilization, which the Negro meets especially in his
economic life. !Let us take up here the subject of social
classes and amusements among Negroes, reserving for the
next chapter a study of the contact of the Whites and
Blacks.
There is always a strong tendency on the part of the
community to consider the Negroes as composing one
practically homogeneous mass. This view has of course
a certain justification: the people of Negro descent in
this land have had a common history, suffer to-day com
mon disabilities, and contribute to one general set of
social problems. And yet if the foregoing statistics have
emphasized any one fact it is that wide variations in
antecedents, wealth, intelligence and general efficiency
have already been differentiated within this group.
These differences are not, to be sure, so great or so patent
as those among the whites of to-day, and yet they un-
310 The Environment of the Negro. [Cliap. XV.
doubtedly equal the difference among the masses of the
people in certain sections of the land fifty or one hundred
years ago; and there is no surer way of misunderstanding the
Negro or being misunderstood by him than by ignoring
manifest differences of condition and power in the 40,000
black people of Philadelphia.
And yet well-meaning people continually do this. They
regale the thugs and whoremongers and gamblers of
Seventh and Lombard streets with congratulations on what
the Negroes have done in a quarter century, and pity for
their disabilities ; and they scold the caterers of Addison
street for the pickpockets and paupers of the race. A
judge of the city courts, who for years has daily met a
throng of lazy and debased Negro criminals, comes from
the bench to talk to the Negroes about their criminals : he
warns them first of all to leave the slums and either forgets
or does not know that the fathers of the audience he is
speaking to, left the slums when he was a boy and that the
people before him are as distinctly differentiated from the
criminals he has met, as honest laborers anywhere differ
from thieves.
Nothing more exasperates the better class of Negroes
than this tendency to ignore utterly their existence. The
law-abiding, hard-working inhabitants of the Thirtieth
Ward are aroused to righteous indignation when they see
that the word Negro carries most Philadelphians' minds to
the alleys of the Fifth Ward or the police courts. Since
so much misunderstanding or rather forgetfulness and care
lessness on this point is common, let us endeavor to try and
fix with some definiteness the different social classes which
are clearly enough defined among Negroes to deserve
attention. When the statistics of the families of the
Seventh Ward were gathered, each family was put in one
of four grades as follows :
Grade i. Families of undoubted respectability earning
sufficient income to live well ; not engaged in menial
Sect. 46.] Social Classes and Amusements. 311
service of any kind ; the wife engaged in no occupation
save that of house-wife, except in a few cases where she
had special employment at home. The children not com
pelled to be bread-winners, but found in school ; the family
living in a well-kept home.
Grade 2. The respectable working-class ; in comfortable
circumstances, with a good home, and having steady
remunerative work. The younger children in school.
Grade j. The poor; persons not earning enough to
keep them at all times above want; honest, although not
always energetic or thrifty, and with no touch of gross
immorality or crime. Including the very poor, and the
poor.
Grade 4. The lowest class of criminals, prostitutes and
loafers ; the " submerged tenth. 57
Thus we have in these four grades the criminals, the
poor, the laborers, and the well-to-do. u The last class
represents the ordinary middle-class folk of most modern
countries, and contains the germs of other social classes
which the Negro has not yet clearly differentiated. Let
us begin first with the fourth class.
The criminals and gamblers are to be found at such
centres as Seventh and Lombard streets, Seventeenth and
Lombard, Twelfth and Kater, Eighteenth and Naudain^
etc. Many people have failed to notice the significant
change which has come over these slums in recent years ;
the squalor and misery and dumb suffering of 1840 has
passed, and in its place have come more baffling and sinister
phenomena: shrewd laziness, shameless lewdness, cunning"
14 It will be noted that this classification differs materially from the
economic division in Chapter XI. In that case grade four and a part of
three appear as the " poor ; J> grade two and the rest of gratie three, as
the "fair to comfortable ; n and a few of grade two and grade one as the
well-to-do. The basis of division there was almost entirely according to
income; this division brings in moral considerations and questions of
expenditure, and consequently reflects more largely the personal judg
ment of the investigator.
312 The Environment of the Negro. [Chap. XV.
crime. The loafers who line the curbs in these places are
no fools, but sharp, wily men who often outwit both the
Police Department and the Department of Charities. Their
nucleus consists of a class of professional criminals, who
do not work, figure in the rogues' galleries of a half-dozen
cities, and migrate here and there. About these are a set
of gamblers and sharpers who seldom are caught in serious
crime, but who nevertheless live from its proceeds and aid
and abet it. The headquarters of all these are usually the
political clubs and pool-rooms; they stand ready to entrap
the unwary and tempt the weak. Their organization, tacit
or recognized, is very effective, and no one can long watch
their actions without seeing that they keep in close touch
with the authorities in some way. Affairs will be gliding
on lazily some summer afternoon at the corner of Seventh
and Lombard streets ; a few loafers on the corners, a pros
titute here and there, and the Jew and Italian plying their
trades. Suddenly there is an oath, a sharp altercation, a
blow ; then a hurried rush of feet, the silent door of a
neighboring club closes, and when the policeman arrives
only the victim lies bleeding on the sidewalk ; or at mid
night the drowsy quiet will be suddenly broken by the
cries and quarreling of a half-drunken gambling table ;
then comes the sharp, quick crack of pistol shots a scur
rying in the darkness, and only the wounded man lies
awaiting the patrol-wagon. If the matter turns out seri
ously, the police know where in Minster street and Middle
alley to look for the aggressor ; often they find him, but
sometimes not. 15
The size of the more desperate class of criminals and
their shrewd abettors is of course comparatively small, but
it is large enough to characterize the slum districts.
Around this central body lies a large crowd of satellites
15 The investigator resided at tlie College Settlement, Seventh and Ix>m-
bard streets, some months, and thus had an opportunity to observe this
slum carefully.
Sect. 46.] Social Classes and Amusements. 313
and feeders: young idlers attracted by excitement, shift
less and lazy ne'er-do-wells, who have sunk from better
things, and a rough crowd of pleasure seekers and liber
tines. These are the fellows who figure in the police
courts for larceny and fighting, and drift thus into graver
crime or shrewder dissoluteness. They are usually far
more ignorant than their leaders, and rapidly die out from
disease and excess. Proper measures for rescue and reform
might save many of this class. Usually they are not
natives of the city, but immigrants who have wandered
from the small towns of the South to Richmond and
Washington and thence to Philadelphia. Their environ
ment in this city makes it easier for them to live by crime
or the results of crime than by work, and being without
ambition or perhaps having lost ambition and grown
bitter with the world they drift with the stream.
One large element of these slums, a class we have barely
mentioned, are the prostitutes. It is difficult to get at any
satisfactory data concerning such a class, but an attempt
has been made. There were in 1896 fifty-three Negro
women in the Seventh Ward known on pretty satisfactory
evidence to be supported wholly or largely by the proceeds
of prostitution ; and it is probable that this is not half the
real number ; 16 these fifty-three were of the following ages :
14 to 19 2
20 to 24 ii
25 to 29 9
30 to 39 17
40 to 49 3
50 and over . 2
Unknown . , . 9
Total 53
Seven of these women had small children with them and
Tiad probably been betrayed, and had then turned to this
K These figures were taken during the inquiry by the viator to the
houses.
314 The Environment of the Negro. [Chap. XV.
sort of life. There were fourteen recognized bawdy
houses in the ward ; ten of them were private dwellings
where prostitutes lived and were not especially fitted up,
although male visitors frequented them. Four of the
houses were regularly fitted up, with elaborate furniture,
and in one or two cases had young and beautiful girls on
exhibition. All of these latter were seven- or eight-room
houses for which $26 to $30 a month was paid. They are
pretty well-known resorts, but are not disturbed. In the
slums the lowest class of street walkers abound and ply
their trade among Negroes, Italians and Americans. One
can see men following them into alleys in broad daylight.
They usually have male associates whom they support
and who join them in " badger " thieving. Most of them
are grown women though a few cases of girls under sixteen
have been seen on the street.
This fairly characterizes the lowest class of Negroes.
According to the inquiry in the Seventh Ward at least
138 families were estimated as belonging to this class out
of 2395 reported, or 5.8 per cent This would include
between five and six hundred individuals. Perhaps this
number reaches 1000 if the facts were known, but the
evidence at hand furnishes only the number stated. In the
whole city the number may reach 3000, although there is
little data for an estimate. 17
The next class are the poor and unfortunate and the
casual laborers ; most of these are of the class of Negroes
who in the contact with the life of a great city have
failed to find an assured place. They include immi
grants who cannot get steady work; good-natured, but
unreliable and shiftless persons who cannot keep work or
spend their earnings thoughtfully ; those who have suffered
accident and misfortune ; the maimed and defective classes,
17 This includes not simply the actual criminal class, but its aiders and
abettors, and the class intimately associated with it. It would, for
instance, include much more than Charles Booth's class A in I/ondon.
Sect. 46.] Social Classes and Amusements. 315
and the sick ; many widows and orphans and deserted
wives ; all these form a large class and are here considered.
It is of course very difficult to separate the lowest of this
class from the one below, and probably many are included
here who, if the truth were known, ought to be classed
lower. In most cases, however, they have been given the
benefit of the doubt The lowest ones of this class usually
live in the slums and back streets, and next door, or in
the same house often, with criminals and lewd women.
Ignorant and easily influenced, they readily go with the
tide and now rise to industry and decency, now fall to
crime. Others of this class get on fairly well in good
times, but never get far ahead. They are the ones who
earliest feel the weight of hard times and their latest
blight. Some correspond to the "worthy pdor" of most
charitable organizations, and some fall a little below that
class. The children of this class are the feeders of the
criminal classes. Often in the same family one can find
respectable and striving parents weighed down by idle,
impudent sons and wayward daughters. This is partly
because of poverty, more because of the poor home life. In
the Seventh Ward 303^ per cent of the families or 728
may be put into this class, including the very poor, the
poor and those who manage just to make ends meet in
good times. In the whole city perhaps ten to twelve
thousand Negroes fall in this third social grade.
Above these come the representative Negroes ; the mass
of the servant class, the porters and waiters, and the best
of the laborers. They are hard-working people, proverb
ially good-natured ; lacking a little in foresight and fore-
handedness, and in " push." They are honest and faithful^
of fair and improving morals, and beginning to accumulate
property. The great drawback to this class is lack of
congenial occupation especially among the young men and
women, and the consequent wide-spread dissatisfaction and
complaint. As a class these persons are ambitious ; the
316 The Environment of the Negro. [Chap. XV.
majority can read and write, many have a common school
training, and all are anxious to rise in the world. Their
wages are low compared with corresponding classes of
white workmen, their rents are high, and the field of
advancement opened to them is very limited. The best
expression of the life of this group is the Negro church,
where their social life centres, and where they discuss
their situation and prospects.
A note of disappointment and discouragement is often
heard at these discussions and their work suffers from a
growing lack of interest in it. Most of them are probably
best fitted for the work they are doing, but a large
percentage deserve better ways to display their talent, and
better remuneration. The whole class deserves credit for
its bold advance in the midst of discouragements, and for
the distinct moral improvement in their family life during
the last quarter century. These persons form 56 per cent
or 1,252 of the families of the Seventh Ward, and include
perhaps 25,000 of the Negroes of the city. They live in
5 xo-room houses, and usually have lodgers. The houses
are always well furnished with neat parlors and some
musical instrument. Sunday dinners and small parties,
together with church activities, make up their social inter
course. Their chief trouble is in finding suitable careers
for their growing children.
Finally we come to the 277 families, 11.5 per cent of
those of the Seventh Ward, and including perhaps 3,000
Negroes in the city, who form the aristocracy of the Negro
population in education, wealth and general social effi
ciency. In many respects it is right and proper to judge a
people by its best classes rather than by its worst classes or
middle ranks. The highest class of any group represents
its possibilities rather than its exceptions, as is so often
assumed in regard to the Negro. The colored people are
seldom judged by their best classes, and often the very
existence of classes among them is ignored. This is
Sect. 46.] Social Classes and Amusements. 317
partly due in the North to the anomalous position of those
who compose this class ; they are not the leaders or the
ideal-makers of their own group in thought, work, or
morals. They teach the masses to a very small extent,
mingle with them but little, do not largely hire their
labor. Instead then of social classes held together by
strong ties of mutual interest we have in the case of the
Negroes, classes who have much to keep them apart, and
only community of blood and color prejudice to bind them
together. If the Negroes were by themselves either a
strong aristocratic system or a dictatorship would for the
present prevail. With, however, democracy thus prema
turely thrust upon them, the first impulse of the best, the
wisest and richest is to segregate themselves from the mass.
This action, however, causes more of dislike and jealousy
on the part of the masses than usual, because those masses
look to the whites for ideals and largely for leadership. It
is natural therefore that even to-day the mass of Negroes
should look upon the worshipers at St. Thomas' and
Central as feeling themselves above them, and should dis
like them for it. On the other hand it is just as natural
for the well-educated and well-to-do Negroes to feel them
selves far above the criminals and prostitutes of Seventh
and Lombard streets, and even above the servant girls and
porters of the middle class of workers. So far they are
justified ; but they make their mistake in failing to recog
nize thatjhowever laudable an ambition to rise may be, the
first duty of an upper class is to serve the lowest classes-
The aristocracies of all peoples have been slow in learning
this and perhaps the Negro is no slower than the rest, but
his peculiar situation demands that in his case this lesson be
learned sooner. Naturally the uncertain economic status
even of this picked class makes it difficult for them to
spare much time and energy in social reform ; compared
with their fellows they are rich, but compared with white
31 8 The Environment of the Negro. [Chap. XV.
Americans they are poor, and they can hardly fulfill their
duty as the leaders of the Negroes until they are captains
of industry over their people as well as richer and wiser.
To-day the professional class among them is, compared
with other callings, rather over-represented, and all have a
struggle to maintain the position they have won.
This class is itself an answer to the question of the
ability of the Negro to assimilate American culture. It is
a class small in numbers and not sharply differentiated
from other classes, although sufficiently so to be easily
recognized. Its members are not to be met with in the
ordinary assemblages of the Negroes, nor in their usual
promenading places. They are largely Philadelphia born,
and being descended from the house-servant class, contain
many mulattoes. In their assemblies there are evidences
of good breeding and taste, so that a foreigner would
hardly think of ex-slaves. They are not to be sure people
of wide culture and their mental horizon is as limited as
that of the first families in a country town. Here and
there may be noted, too, some faint trace of careless moral
training. On the whole they strike one as sensible,
good folks. Their conversation turns on the gossip of
similar circles among the Negroes of Washington, Bos
ton and New York ; on questions of the day, and, less
willingly, on the situation of the Negro. Strangers
secure entrance to this circle with difficulty and only by
introduction. For an ordinary white person it would
be almost impossible to secure introduction even by a
friend. Once in a while some well-known citizen meets a
company of this class, but it is hard for the average white
American to lay aside his patronizing way toward a Negro,
and to talk of aught to him but the Negro question ; the
lack, therefore, of common ground even for conversation
makes such meetings rather stiff and not often repeated.
Fifty-two of these families keep servants regularly ; they
Sect. 46.] Social Classes and Amusements.
3*9
live in well-appointed homes, which give evidence of taste
and even luxury. 18
Something must be said, before leaving this subject, of
the amusements of the Negroes. Among the fourth grade
and the third, gambling, excursions, balls and cake-walks
are the chief amusements. The gambling instinct is wide
spread, as in all low classes, and, together with sexual
looseness, is their greatest vice ; it is carried on in clubs,
in private houses, in pool-rooms and on the street. Public
gambling can be found at a dozen different places every
night at full tilt in the Seventh Ward, and almost any
stranger can gain easy access. Games of pure chance are
preferred to those of skill, and in the larger clubs a sort of
three-card monte is the favorite game, played with a dealer
who gambles against all comers. In private houses in the
slums, cards, beer and prostitutes can always be found. In
the public pool-rooms there is some quiet gambling and
playing for prizes. For the new comer to the city the
only open places of amusement are these pool-rooms and
gambling clubs ; here are crowds of young fellows, and
18 A comparison of the size of families in the highest and lowest class
may be of interest:
Number in Family.
First Grade.
Fourth Grade.
22 %%
17 1-2%
56 24$
58 42^
Three .
54 19$
27 20%
48)
21)
2S ! 33 J&
6^24^
Six .... . . , .
I8J
6j
201
2 1
Eiffht *
1\ 12$
ol 2%
Nine . . .
5J
ij
Ten
7")
0}
O [ A.%%
1 Q%
5 J
o)
Total - - ,
277
138
Average size of family, first grade, 4.07 #; fourth grade, 2.08$.
This certainly looks like the survival of the fittest, and is hardly an
argument for the extinction of the civilized Negro.
320 The Environment of the Negro. [Chap. XV.
once started in this company no one can say where they
may not end.
The most innocent amusements of this class are the balls
and cake-walks, although they are accompanied by much
drinking, and are attended by white and black prostitutes^
The cake-walk is a rhythmic promenade or slow dance, and
when well done is pretty and quite innocent. Excursions
are frequent in summer, and are accompanied often by much
fighting and drinking.
The mass of the laboring Negroes get their amusement in
connection with the churches. There are suppers, fairs,
concerts, socials and the like. Dancing is forbidden by
most of the churches, and many of the stricter sort would
not think of going to balls or theatres. The younger set,
however, dance, although the parents seldom accompany
them, and the hours kept are late, making it often a dissi
pation. Secret societies and social clubs add to these
amusements by balls and suppers, and there are numbers
of parties at private houses. This class also patronizes fre
quent excursions given by churches and Sunday schools
and secret societies ; they are usually well conducted, but
cost a great deal more than is necessary. The money
wasted in excursions above what would be necessary for a
day's outing and plenty of recreation, would foot up many
thousand dollars in a season.
In the upper class alone has the home begun to be
the centre of recreation and amusement. There are always
to be found parties and small receptions, and gatherings at
the invitations of musical or social clubs. One large ball
each year is usually given, which is strictly private. Guests
from out of town are given much social attention.
Among nearly all classes of Negroes there is a large un
satisfied demand for amusement. Large numbers of servant
girls and young men have flocked to the city, have no homes,
and want places to frequent. The churches supply this need
partially, but the institution which will supply this want
Sect. 46.] Social Classes and Amusements. 321
better and add instruction and diversion, will save many
girls from ruin and boys from crime. There is to-day little
done in places of public amusement to protect colored
girls from designing men. Many of the idlers and rascals
of the slums play on the affections of silly servant girls>
and either ruin them or lead them into crime, or more
often live on a part of their wages. There are many cases
of this latter system to be met in the Seventh Ward.
It is difficult to measure amusements in any enlightening
way. A count of the amusements reported by the Tribune^
the chief colored paper, which reports for a select part of
the laboring class, and the upper class, resulted as follows
for nine weeks: 19
Parties at liomes in liotior of visitors ......... 16
** ** liomes . . ii
'* *' ** with dancing 10
Balls in halls 10
Concerts in churches 7
Church suppers, etc 7
Weddings , 7
Birthday parties 7
Ivectures and literary entertainments at chnrches ... 6
Card parties 4
Fairs at churches 3
Lawn parties and picnics 3
91
These, of course, are the larger parties in the whole city,
and do not include the numerous small church socials and
gatherings. The proportions here are largely accidental,
but the list is instructive.
19 These weeks were not consecutive but taken at random.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE CONTACT OF THE RACES.
47. Color Prejudice. Incidentally throughout this
study the prejudice against the Negro has been again and
again mentioned. It is time now to reduce this somewhat
indefinite term to something tangible. Everybody speaks
of the matter, everybody knows that it exists, but in just
what form it shows itself or how influential it is few agree.
In the Negro's mind, color prejudice in Philadelphia is
that widespread feeling of dislike for his blood, which keeps
him and his children out of decent employment, from cer
tain public conveniences and amusements, from hiring
nouses in many sections, and in general, from being recog
nized as a man. Negroes regard this prejudice as the chief
cause of their present unfortunate condition. On the other
hand most white people are quite unconscious of any such
powerful and vindictive feeling ; they regard color preju
dice as the easily explicable feeling that intimate social
intercourse with a lower race is not only undesirable but
impracticable if our present standards of culture are to
be maintained ; and although they are aware that some
people feel the aversion more intensely than others, they
cannot see how such a feeling has much influence on the
real situation or alters the social condition of the mass of
Negroes.
As a matter of fact, color prejudice in this city is
something between these two extreme views : it is not
to-day responsible for all, or perhaps the greater part of
the Negro problems, or of the disabilities under which the
race labors ; on the other hand It is a far more powerful
social force than most Philadelphians realize. The prac-
(322)
Sect 47-] Color Prejudice. 323
tical results of the attitude of most of the inhabitants
of Philadelphia toward persons of Negro descent are as
follows :
1. As to getting work :
No matter how well trained a Negro may be, or how
fitted for work of any kind, he cannot in the ordinary
course of competition hope to be much more than a menial
servant.
He cannot get clerical or supervisory work to do save in
exceptional cases.
He cannot teach save in a few of the remaining Negro
schools.
He cannot become a mechanic except for small transient
jobs, and cannot join a trades union.
A Negro woman has but three careers open to her in
this city : domestic service, sewing, or married life.
2. As to keeping work :
The Negro suffers in competition more severely than
white men.
Change in fashion is causing him to be replaced by whites
in the better paid positions of domestic service.
Whim and accident will cause him to lose a hard-earned
place more quickly than the same things would affect a
white man.
Being few in number compared with the whites the
crime or carelessness of a few of his race is easily imputed
to all, and the reputation of the good, industrious and
reliable suffer thereby.
Because Negro workmen may not often work side by
side with white workmen, the individual black workman
is rated not by his own efficiency, but by the efficiency of
a whole group of black fellow workmen which may often
be low.
Because of these difficulties which virtually increase
competition in his case, he is forced to take lower wages
for the same work than white workmen.
324 The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVL
3. As to entering new lines of work :
Men are used to seeing Negroes in inferior positions ;
when, therefore, by any chance a Negro gets in a better
position, most men immediately conclude that he is not
fitted for it, even before he has a chance to show his fitness.
If, therefore, he set up a store, men will not patronize
him.
If he is put into public position men will complain.
If he gain a position in the commercial world, men will
quietly secure his dismissal or see that a white man suc
ceeds him.
4. As to his expenditure :
The comparative smallness of the patronage of the
Negro, and the dislike of other customers makes it usual
to increase the charges or difficulties in certain directions
in which a Negro must spend money.
He must pay more house-rent for worse houses than
most white people pay.
He is sometimes liable to insult or reluctant service in
some restaurants, hotels and stores, at public resorts,
theatres and places of recreation ; and at nearly all barber
shops.
5. As to his children :
The Negro finds it extremely difficult to rear children in
such an atmosphere and not have them either cringing or
impudent : if he impresses upon them patience with their
lot, they may grow up satisfied with their condition ; if he
inspires them with ambition to rise, they may grow to
despise their own people, hate the whites and become
embittered with the world.
His children are discriminated against, often in public
schools.
They are advised when seeking employment to become
waiters and maids.
They are liable to species of insult and temptation
peculiarly trying to children.
Sect. 47.] Color Prejudice. 325
6. As to social intercourse :
In all walks of life the Negro is liable to meet some
objection to his presence or some discourteous treatment ;
and the ties of friendship or memory seldom are strong
enough to hold across the color line.
If an invitation is issued to the public for any occasion,
the Negro can never know whether he would be welcomed
or not ; if he goes he is liable to have his feelings hurt and
get into unpleasant altercation ; if he stays away, he is
blamed for indifference.
If he meet a lifelong white friend on the street, he is in
a dilemma ; if he does not greet the friend he is put down
as boorish and impolite ; if he does greet the friend he is
liable to be flatly snubbed.
If by chance he is introduced to a white woman or man,
he expects to be ignored on the next meeting, and usually is.
White friends may call on him, but he is scarcely
expected to call on them, save for strictly business matters.
If he gain the affections of a white woman and marry
her he may invariably expect that slurs will be thrown on
her reputation and on his, and that both his and her race
will shun their company. 1
When he dies he cannot be buried beside white corpses.
7. The result:
Any one of these things happening now and then would
not be remarkable or call for especial comment ; but when
one group of people suffer all these little differences of
treatment and discriminations and insults continually, the
result is either discouragement, or bitterness, or over-sensi
tiveness, or recklessness. And a people feeling thus cannot
do their best.
Presumably the first impulse of the average Philadelphian
would be emphatically to deny any such marked and
blighting discrimination as the above against a group o
citizens in this metropolis. Every one knows that in the
1 Cf. Section 49.
326 The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVL
past color prejudice in the city was deep and passionate ;
living men can remember when a Negro could not sit in a
street car or walk many streets in peace. These times
have passed, however, and many imagine that active
discrimination against the Negro has passed with them.
Careful inquiry will convince any such one of his error.
To be sure a colored man to-day can walk the streets of
Philadelphia without personal insult ; he can go to
theatres, parks and some places of amusement without
meeting more than stares and discourtesy ; he can be
accommodated at most hotels and restaurants, although his
treatment in some would not be pleasant. All this is a
vast advance and augurs much for the future. And yet all
that has been said of the remaining discrimination is but
too true.
During the investigation of 1896 there was collected a
number of actual cases, which may illustrate the discrimi
nations spoken of. So far as possible these have been
sifted and only those which seem undoubtedly true have
been selected. 2
i. As to getting work.
It is hardly necessary to dwell upon the situation of the
Negro in regard to work in the higher walks of life : the
white boy may start in the lawyer's office and work
himself into a lucrative practice ; he may serve a
physician as office boy or enter a hospital in a minor
position, and have his talent alone between him and
3 One of the questions on the schedule was: "Have you had any
difficulty in getting work? " another: " Have you had any difficulty in
renting houses?" Most of the answers were vague or general. Those
that were definite and apparently reliable were, so far as possible,
inquired into farther, compared with other testimony and then used as
material for working out a list of discriminations; single and isolated
cases without corroboration were never taken. I believe those here
presented are reliable, although naturally I may have been deceived in
some stories. Of the general truth of the statement I am thoroughly
convinced.
Sect 47.] Color Prejudice. 327
affluence and fame ; if he is bright in school, he may
make his mark in a university, become a tutor with some
time and much inspiration for study, and eventually fill
a professor's chair. All these careers are at the very
outset closed to the Negro on account of his color ; what
lawyer would give even a minor case to a Negro assistant?
or what university would appoint a promising young
Negro as tutor ? Thus the young white man starts in life
knowing that within some limits and barring accidents,
talent and application will tell. The young Negro starts
knowing that on all sides his advance is made doubly
difficult if not wholly shut off by his color. Let us come,
however, to ordinary occupations which concern more
nearly the mass of Negroes. Philadelphia is a great indus
trial and business centre, with thousands of foremen,
managers and clerks the lieutenants of industry who
direct its progress. They are paid for thinking and for
skill to direct, and naturally such positions are coveted
because they are well paid, well thought-of and carry some
authority. To such positions Negro boys and girls may
not aspire no matter what their qualifications. Even as
teachers and ordinary clerks and stenographers they find
almost no openings. l>t us note some actual instances :
A young woman who graduated with credit from the
Girls' Normal School in 1892, has taught in the kinder
garten, acted as substitute, and waited in vain for a per
manent position. Once she was allowed to substitute in a
school with white teachers ; the principal commended her
work, but when the permanent appointment was made a
white woman got it
A girl who graduated from a Pennsylvania high school
and from a business college sought work in the city as a
stenographer and typewriter. A prominent lawyer under
took to find her a position ; he went to friends and said,
" Here is a girl that does excellent work and is of good
character ; can you not give her work ? " Several imme-
328 The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVI.
diately answered yes. "But," said the lawyer, u I will be
perfectly frank with you and tell you she is colored ;" and
not In the whole city could he find a man willing to
employ her. It happened, however, that the girl was so
light in complexion that few not knowing would have
suspected her descent. The lawyer therefore gave her
temporary work in his own office until she found a position
outside the city. " But," said he, " to this day I have not
dared to tell my clerks that they worked beside a Negress."
Another woman graduated from the high school and the
Palmer College of Shorthand, but all over the city has met
with nothing but refusal of work.
Several graduates in pharmacy have sought to get their
three years required apprenticeship in the city and in only
one case did one succeed, although they offered to work for
nothing. One young pharmacist came from Massachusetts
and for weeks sought in vain for work here at any price;
tc I wouldn't have a darky to clean out my store, much
less to stand behind the counter," answered one druggist.
A colored man answered an advertisement for a clerk in
the suburbs. "What do you suppose we'd want of a
nigger ? n was the plain answer. A graduate of the
University of Pennsylvania in mechanical engineering,
well recommended, obtained work in the city, through an
advertisement, on account of his excellent record. He
worked a few hours and then was discharged because he
was found to be colored. He is now a waiter at the
University Club, where his white fellow graduates dine. 3
Another young man attended Spring Garden Institute and
studied drawing for lithography. He had good references
from the institute and elsewhere, but application at the
five largest establishments in the city could secure him no
work. A telegraph operator has hunted in vain for an
opening, and two graduates of the Central High School
3 And is, of course, pointed out by some as typifying the educated
Negro's success in life.
Sect. 47.] Color Prejudice. 329
have sunk to menial labor. " What's the use of an educa
tion ? " asked one. Mr, A has elsewhere been employed
as a traveling salesman. He applied for a position here by
letter and was told he could have one. When they saw
him they had no work for him.
Such cases could be multiplied indefinitely. But that is
not necessary ; one has but to note that, notwithstanding
the acknowledged ability of many colored men, the Negro
is conspicuously absent from all places of honor, trust or
emolument, -as well as from those of respectable grade in
commerce and industry.
Even in the world of skilled labor the Negro is largely
excluded. Many would explain the absence of Negroes
from higher vocations by saying that while a few may now
and then be found competent, the great mass are not fitted
for that sort of work and are destined for some time to
form a laboring class. In the matter of the trades, how
ever, there can be raised no serious question of ability ;
for years the Negroes filled satisfactorily the trades of the
city, and to-day in many parts of the South they are still
prominent. And yet in Philadelphia a determined preju
dice, aided by public opinion, has succeeded nearly in
driving them from the field:
A , who works at a bookbinding establishment on
Front street, has learned to bind books and often does so
for his friends. He is not allowed to work at the trade in
the shop, however, but must remain a porter at a porter's
wages.
B is a brushmaker ; he has applied at several estab
lishments, but they would not even examine his testi
monials. They simply said : " We do not employ colored
people."
C is a shoemaker \ he tried to get work in some of
the large department stores. They u had no place" for him.
D was a bricklayer, but experienced so much trouble
in getting work that he is now a messenger.
330 The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVL
E is a painter, but has found it impossible to get
work because he is colored.
F is a telegraph line man, who formerly worked in
Richmond, Va. When he applied here he was told that
Negroes were not employed.
G is an iron puddler, who belonged to a Pittsburg
union. Here he was not recognized as a union man and
could not get work except as a stevedore.
H was a cooper, but could get no work after repeated
trials, and is now a common laborer.
I is a candy-maker, but has never been able to find
employment in the city ; he is always told that the white
help will not work with him.
J is a carpenter ; he can only secure odd jobs or
work where only Negroes are employed.
K was an upholsterer, but could get no work save in
the few colored shops, which had workmen ; he is now a
waiter on a dining car.
L was a first-class baker ; he applied for work some
time ago near Green street and was told shortly, "We
don't work no niggers here."
M is a good typesetter ; he has not been allowed to
join the union and has been refused work at eight different
places in the city.
N is a printer by trade, but can only find work as a
porter.
O is a sign-painter, but can get but little work.
P is a painter and gets considerable work, but never
with white workmen.
Q is a good stationary engineer, but can find no
employment ; is at present a waiter in a private family.
R was born in Jamaica ; he went to England and
worked fifteen years in the Sir Edward Green Economizing
Works in Wakefield, Yorkshire. During dull times he
emigrated to America, bringing excellent references. He
applied for a place as mechanic in nearly all the large iron
Sect. 47.] Color Prejudice. 331
working establishments in the city. A locomotive works
assured him that his letters were all right, but that their
men would not work with Negroes. At a manufactory of
railway switches they told him they had no vacancy and
he could call again ; he called and finally was frankly told
that they could not employ Negroes. He applied twice to
a foundry company: they told him: "We have use for
only one Negro a porter," and refusing either further con
versation or even to look at his letters showed him out.
He then applied for work on a new building ; the man
told him he could leave an application, then added : u To
tell the truth, itis no use, for we don't employ Negroes."
Thus the man has searched for work two years and has not
yet found a permanent position. He can only support his
family by odd jobs as a common laborer.
S is a stone-cutter ; he was refused work repeatedly
on account of color. At last he got a job during a strike
and was found to be so good a workman that his employer
refused to dismiss him.
T was a boy, who, together with a white boy came
to the city to hunt work. The colored boy was very light
in complexion, and consequently both were taken in as
apprentices at a large locomotive works; they worked
there some months, but it was finally disclosed that the
boy was colored; he was dismissed and the white boy
retained.
These all seem typical and reliable cases. There are, of
course, some exceptions to the general rule, but even these
seem to confirm the fact that exclusion is a matter of preju
dice and thoughtlessness which sometimes yields to determi
nation and good sense. The most notable case in point is that
of the Midvale Steel Works, where a large number of Negro-
workmen are regularly employed as mechanics and work
alongside whites/ If another foreman should take charge
there, or if friction should arise, it would be easy for all
* Cf. Section 23.
332 The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVI.
this to receive a serious set-back, for ultimate success in
such matters demands many experiments and a widespread
public sympathy.
There are several cases where strong personal influence
has secured colored boys positions ; in one cabinet-making
factory, a porter who had served the firm thirty years,
asked to have his son learn the trade and work in the
shop. The workmen objected strenuously at first, but the
employer was firm and the young man has been at work
there now seven years. The S. S. White Dental Company
has a colored chemist who has worked up to his place and
gives satisfaction. A jeweler allowed his colored fellow-
soldier in the late war to learn the gold beaters' trade and
work in his shop. A few other cases follow :
A was intimately acquainted with a merchant
and secured his son a position as a typewriter in the
merchants office.
B , a stationary 7 engineer, came with his employer
from Washington and still works with him.
C , a plasterer, learned his trade with a firm in
Virginia who especially recommended him to the firm
where he now works.
D is a boy whose mother's friend got him work
as cutter in a bag and rope factory ; the hands objected
but the friend's influence was strong enough to keep him
there.
All these exceptions prove the rule, viz., that without
strong effort and special influence it is next to impossible
for a Negro in Philadelphia to get regular employment in
most of the trades, except he work as an independent
workman and take small transient jobs.
The chief agency that brings about this state of affairs
is public opinion ; if they were not intrenched, and strongly
intrenched, back of an active prejudice or at least passive
acquiescence in this effort to deprive Negroes of a decent
livelihood, both trades unions and arbitrary bosses would be
Sect 47.] Color Prejitdice. 333
powerless to do the liarm they now do ; where, however, a
large section of the public more or less openly applaud the
stamina of a man who refuses to work with a "Nigger," the
results are inevitable. The object of the trades union is
purely business-like ; it aims to restrict the labor market, just
as the manufacturer aims to raise the price of his goods.
Here is a chance to keep out of the market a vast number
of workmen, and the unions seize the chance save in cases
where they dare not as in the case of the cigar-makers and
coal-miners. If they could keep out the foreign workmen
in the same way they would ; but here public opinion
within and without their ranks forbids hostile action. Of
course, most unions do not flatly declare their discrimi
nations ; a few plainly put the word " white " into their
constitutions ; most of them do not and will say that they
consider each case on its merits. Then they quietly black
ball the Negro applicant Others delay and temporize and
put off action until the Negro withdraws; still others
discriminate against the Negro in initiation fees and dues,
making a Negro pay $100, where the whites pay $25. On
the other hand in times of strikes or other disturbances
cordial invitations to join are often sent to Negro work
men. 6
At a time when women are engaged in bread^winning to a
larger degree than ever before, the field open to Negro
women is unusually narrow. This is, of course, due largely
to the more intense prejudices of females on all subjects,
* Two newspaper clippings will illustrate the attitude of the workmen ;
the first relates to the Chinese apprentices taken into the Baldwin Loco
motive Works:
The announcement that the Baldwins had taken five Chinese appren
tices made quite a stir among labor leaders. Some of them worked
themselves into quite a fever of indignation. Charles P. Patrick, grand
organizer of the Boilermakers* Union, was quite outspoken on the
subject.
He said: "All this plan of patting Chinamen in to learn trades sounds
nice and charitable to the Christian League, bat how does it sound to the
ears of American mechanics who are walking the streets in search of
334 The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVI.
and especially to the fact that women who work dislike to
be in any way mistaken for menials, and they regard Negro
women as menials par excellence.
A , a dressmaker and seamstress of proven ability,
-employment ? I have traveled all over this country and Mexico, and I
have never before seen Chinamen given places over the heads of Ameri
cans. In the West and in Mexico, Chinese labor is plentiful, but the
Chinamen are given only menial positions. They are servants, helpers
in the mines and laborers. I never before heard of a Chinaman being
given a place as an apprentice in a shop.
" Our government excludes Chinese labor from this country, yet here
is the Christian League seeking to put forbidden immigrants in a position
where they, with their peculiarly cheap, even beggarly style of living,
can compete with American labor. I have only been in this city for a
few days, but I venture to say I have seen more beggars and men out of
work around Eighth and Market streets than I have seen in the whole
City of Mexico."
Missionary Frederic Poole disposed of this argument in a few words.
He said: " It is not my idea, nor the idea of Mr. Converse, that these
men should at any time compete with American workingmen. It is not
the wish of the men themselves. Mr. Converse would not have given
them employment had any such thing been intended.
" To-day China is building a vast railroad to Pekin that will open up
all the wealthy and fertile region of Central China. The enterprise is
under the direction of the government. It will be in operation in about
four years. Men of intelligence will be needed for engineers, and there
my five protege's will find their life work. It is not unlikely that the
Chinese Government will send for them before their apprenticeship is
over.*'
John H, Converse was rather interested when he learned of objections
to his Chinese apprentices. " We might have expected such objections
from professional agitators, " he said, "but I do not think you will learn
of any among our employ es."
Continuing, he said: "The Baldwin Locomotive Works is now con
structing eight locomotives for the Chinese Government, which will be
the first to run over the great new railroad being built from Pekin to
Tien-Tsin. American workingmen would be very narrow indeed if they
cannot see that it is to their own immediate advantage that Chinese
mechanics fit to look after American locomotives shall be trained at once,
for the time is coming when thousands of American workingmen may be
kept busy from the extension of railroad building in China.
"These five boys are Philadelphians. They were not brought here,
and every broad-minded mechanic will believe that their apprenticeship
in our shops, should they, as they probably will, return to China, must
mean something for the American locomotive. They are the first to be
Sect. 47.] Color Prejudice. 335
sought work in the large department stores. They all
commended her work, but could not employ her on account
of her color.
B is a typewriter, but has applied at stores and
admitted to a locomotive works in this country, and the news will in all
likelihood create a more friendly feeling in the railroad department of
the Chinese Government for American products."
Mr. Converse said that his firm had no thought of extending the privi
lege beyond the present number of Chinese apprentices. Philadelphia
Public Ledger \ January 5, 1897.
No Negro apprentices have ever been admitted.
The other clipping is a report of the discussion in the annual meeting
of the Federation of Labor:
The Negro question occupied the major portion of the session, and
a heated discussion was brought on by a resolution by Henry Lloyd,
reaffirming the declarations of the Federation that all labor, without
regard to color, is welcome to its ranks denouncing as untrue in fact
the reported statements of Booker T. Washington that the trades unions
were placing obstacles in the way of the material advancement of the
Negro, and appealing to the records of the Federation Conventions
as complete answers to such false assertions.
This resolution caused much spirited discussion. Delegate Jones, of
Augusta, Ga., spoke, claiming that the white laborer could not compete
with the Negro laborer, though organization would improve conditions
materially. President Gompers took part in the discussion, explaining
that the movement was not against the Negro laborer, but against the
cheap laborer, and that the textile workers of the East had been com
pelled to contribute most of their means to teach laborers in the South
the benefits of organization.
He also made the point that the capitalist would profit by the failure
of the Negro laborers to organize, thus making the Negro an impediment
to labor movements.
C. P. Frahey, a Nashville delegate, insisted that the Negro was not the
equal of the white man socially or industrially. He grew warm in speak-
ing of President Gompers* remarks regarding the Negro in the labor
movement, and stated that the President had not revoked the commission
of a National Organizer who had patronized a non-union white barber
shop in preference to a union Negro barber shop.
The organizer had simply been allowed to resign and no publicity had
been given the matter. In answer to a question desiring the name of the
party, Frahey stated it was Jesse Johnson, president of the pressmen,
James O'Connell and P. J. McGuire spoke for the resolution. The
latter insisted that Booker T. Washington was attempting to put the
Negro before the public as the victim of gross injustice, and himself as the
336 The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVI.
offices in vain for work ; " very sorry " they all say, but
they can give her no work. She has answered many
advertisements without result.
C - has attended the Girls 7 High School for two
years, and has been unable to find any work ; she is wash
ing and sewing for a living now.
D - is a dressmaker and milliner, and does bead
work. " Your work is very good," they say to her, " but
if we hired you all of our ladies would leave."
E - , a seamstress, was given work from a store
once, to do at home. It was commended as satisfactory,
but they gave her no more.
F - had two daughters who tried to get work as
stenographers, but got only one small job.
G - is a graduate of the Girls, High School, with
excellent record ; both teachers and influential friends
have been seeking work for her but have not been able to
find any.
H - a gi r i 3 applied at seven stores for some work
not menial ; they had none.
I - started at the Schuylkill, on Market street, and
applied at almost every store nearly to the Delaware for
work ; she was only offered scrubbing.*
Moses of the race. M. D. Rathford insisted that drawing the color line
would be a blow to the miners' organization.
W. D. Mahon charged that Jones was not a representative of Southern
trades unionism, having just joined the ranks. Jones then, in his own
defence, declared he did not oppose the Negro, but did contend that the
Negro laborer was lower than the white, citing an Atlanta case, where
whites and blacks had been jointly employed and the whites struck.
He wanted to know if there had been any efforts made in the Bast to
organize Chinese who came in conflict with the union labor. President
Gompers then ruled that the discussion must cease.
The resolution which had caused the heated debate was adopted, and
the delegates went into executive session. Public Ledger ', December
17, 1897.
6 From the facts tabulated, it appears that one-twentieth of the colored
domestic servants of Philadelphia have trades, while in addition to this
one-tenth have had some higher school training and are presumably
Sect. 47.] Color Prejudice. 337
2. So much for the difficulty of getting work. In
addition to this the Negro is meeting difficulties in keeping
the work he has, or at least the better part of it. Out
side of all dissatisfaction with Negro work there are whims
fitted to be something more than ordinary domestics. Why then do they
not enter these fields instead of drifting into or deliberately choosing
domestic service as a means of livelihood? The answer is simple.
In a majority of cases the reason why they do not enter other fields
is because they are colored not because they are incompetent. Many
instances might be cited in proof of this, were proof needed. The
following cases are only some of those that were personally encountered by
the investigator in one ward of one city.
One very fair young girl, apparently a white girl, was employed as a
clerk in one of the large department stores for over two years, so that
there was no question of her competency as a clerk. At the end of this
time it was discovered that she had colored blood and she was promptly
discharged. One young woman who had been a teacher and is now a
school janitress, teaching occasionally when extra help is needed, states
that she had received an appointment as typewriter in a certain Philadel
phia office, on the strength of her letter of application and when she
appeared and was seen to be a colored girl, the position was refused her.
She said that her brother whom people usually take to be a white man
after serving in the barbershop of a certain hotel for more than ten
years, was summarily discharged when it was learned that he was of
Negro birth. One woman, who was a seamstress and dressmaker, stated
that she had on several occasions gotten work from a certain church
home when she wore a heavy veil, on making her application at the
office, but that ou the first occasion when she wore no veil her applica
tion was refused and had been every time since. Of course many of the
men in domestic service have had similar experiences. Ten men out
of one hundred and fifty-six had trades, but none of them were members
of the trades unions.
Mr. McGuire, vice-president of the Federation of Labor, stated to the
present investigator that the Federation claims that colored men may
be members of any trade union represented in the Federation. But what
this profession amounts to may be judged from Mr. McGwire's further
statement, quoted verbatim: "A majority are willing to have them
admitted, but a strong minority will oppose it. Not a word will be said
against it in discussion, but quietly at the ballot they will rule them out."
How this profession of admission, which amounts to practical exclu
sion, looks from the workingman's point of view is shown in the experi
ence of a first-rate colored carpenter and builder in the Seventh Ward
who was induced to apply ior admission to the Carpenters* Union. He
asked an officer of the Amalgamated Association of Carpenters and
338 The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVI.
and fashions that affect his economic position ; to-day
general European travel has made the trained English
servant popular and consequently well-shaven white men-
servants, whether English or not, find it easy to replace
Joiners, one of the allied societies of the American Federation of I/abor,
if it would be of any use for him to apply to the Union for membership.
"If you know your trade and are a carpenter in good and regular
standing, I see no reason why you should not become a member/' said
the officer. * * So he sent me to the present secretary of the association,
and when I put the question to him, he said, 'Well, he didn't know
whether I could join or not, because they had never had a colored man
in the Union, but he would report it to the association here [Philadelphia]
and would write to headquarters in New York to see if it would be admis
sible to enter a colored man.' He put it on the ground of my color, you
see," This application was made in December, 1896. The applicant was
told that the matter would be acted on in the Union on a certain night in
January, 1897, and every attempt was made to send a man to report that
particular meeting, but without success. What occurred is not hard to
guess, however, since the colored carpenter whose case was then consid
ered has received no word from the Union from that day to this. He has
called at the secretary's office three or four times and left word that he
would like to hear what action was taken regarding his application for
admission to the Union, but December i, 1897, he had received no answer
to his application made in December, 1896.
The effect of this is well illustrated by the case of a young colored
" waiter man " on Pine street, whose case may be taken as typical. He
had studied three years at Hampton, where he had learned in that time
the stone-cutter's trade. He could practice this in Georgia, he said, but
in the South stone-cutters get only $2.00 a day as compared with $3.50,
sometimes $4.00 a day, in the North. So he came North with the promise
of a job of stone-cutting for a new block of buildings to be erected by a
Philadelphian he had met in Georgia. He received $3.50 a day, but when
the block was done he could get no other job at stone-cutting and so
went into domestic service, where he is receiving $6.25 a week instead of
the $21.00 a week he should be receiving as a stone-cutter.
The effect on domestic service is to swell its already over-full ranks with
discontented young men and women whom one would naturally expect
to find rendering half-hearted service because they consider their domestic
work only a temporary makeshift employment. One sometimes hears it
said that "our waiter has graduated from such and such a school, but we
notice that he is not even a very good waiter." Such comments give rise
to the speculation as to the success in ditch digging which would be likely
to attend upon the labors of college professors, or indeed, how many of
the young white men who have graduated from college and from law
Sect. 47.] Color Prejudice. 339
Negro butlers and coachmen at higher wages. Again,
though a man ordinarily does not dismiss all his white
mill-hands because some turn out badly, yet it repeatedly
happens that men dismiss all their colored servants and
condemn their race because one or two in their employ
have proven untrustworthy. Finally, the antipathies of
lower classes are so great that it is often impracticable to
mix races among the servants, A young colored girl
went to work temporarily in Germantown ; " I should like
so much to keep you permanently," said the mistress, " but
all my other servants are white." She was discharged.
Usually now advertisements for help state whether white
or Negro servants are wanted, and the Negro who applies
at the wrong place must not be surprised to have the door
slammed in his face.
The difficulties encountered by the Negro on account of
sweeping conclusions made about him are manifold ; a
large building, for instance, has several poorly paid Negro
janitors, without facilities for their work or guidance in its
prosecution. Finally th e building is thoroughly overhauled
or rebuilt, elevators and electricity installed and a well paid
set of white uniformed janitors put to work under a re
sponsible salaried chief. Immediately the public concludes
that the improvement in the service is due to the change
of color. In some cases, of course, the change is due to a
widening of the field of choice in selecting servants ; for
assuredly one cannot expect that one twenty-fifth of the
population can furnish as many good workmen or as
uniformly good ones as the other twenty-four twenty-fifths.
One actual case illustrates this tendency to exclude the
schools would stow themselves excellent waiters, particularly if they
took up the work simply as a temporary expedient. A { ' match * * between
Yale and Hampton, where mental activities must be confined to the
walls of the butler's pantry, and where there were to be no ** fumbles "
with soup plates, might bring out interesting and suggestive points.
ISABBI. BATON.
340 The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVI.
Negro without proper consideration from even menial
employment :
A great chnrch which has a number of members among
the most respectable Negro families in the city has recently
erected a large new building for its offices, etc., in the city.
As the building was nearing completion a colored clergy
man of that sect was surprised to hear that no Negroes
were to be employed in the building ; he thought that a
peculiar stand for a Christian church to take and so he went
to the manager of the building; the manager blandly
assured him that the rumor was true ; and that there was
not the shadow of a chance for a Negro to get employment
under him, except one woman to clean the water-closet
The reason for this, he said, was that the janitors and help
were all to be uniformed and the whites would not wear
uniforms with Negroes. The clergyman thereupon went
to a prominent member of the church who was serving on
the building committee ; he denied that the committee had
made any such decision, but sent him to another member
of the committee ; this member said the same thing and
referred to the third, a blunt business man. The business
man said : " That building is called the Church
House, but it is more than that, it is a business enterprise,
to be run on business principles. We hired a man to run
it so as to get the most out of it We found such a man
in the present manager, and put all power in his hands."
He acknowledged then, that while the committee had
made no decision, the question of hiring Negroes had come
up and it was left solely to the manager's decision. The
manager thought most Negroes were dishonest and untrust
worthy, etc. And thus the Christian church joins hands
with trades unions and a large public opinion to force
Negroes into idleness and crime.
Sometimes Negroes, by special influence, as has been
pointed out before, secure good positions; then there are
other cases where colored men have by sheer merit and
Sect. 47.] Color Prejudice. 341
pluck secured positions. In all these cases, however, they
are liable to lose their places through no fault of their own
and primarily on account of their Negro blood. It may be
that at first their Negro descent is not known, or other
causes may operate ; in all cases the Negro's tenure of
office is insecure :
A worked in a large tailor's establishment on
Third street for three weeks. His work was acceptable.
Then it became known he was colored and he was dis
charged as the other tailors refused to work with him.
B , a pressman, was employed on Twelfth street, but
a week later was discharged when they knew he was
colored ; he then worked as a door-boy for five years, and
finally got another job in a Jewish shop as pressman.
C was nine years a painter in Stewart's Furniture
Factory, until Stewart failed four years ago. Has
applied repeatedly, but could get no work on account of
color. He now works as a night watchman on the streets
for the city.
D was a stationary engineer; his employer died,
and he has never been able to find another.
E was light in complexion and got a job as driver ;
he " kept his cap on," but when they found he was colored
they discharged him.
F was one of many colored laborers at an ink
factory. The heads of the firm died, and now whenever a
Negro leaves a white man is put in his place.
G worked for a long time as a typesetter on Tag-
gart's Times; when the paper changed hands he was
discharged and has never been able to get another job ; he
is now a janitor.
H was a brickmason, but his employers finally
refused to let him lay brick longer as his fellow workmen
were all white ; he is now. a waiter.
Iv learned the trade of range-setting from his
employer ; the employer then refused him work and he
342 The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVI.
went into business for himself ; he has taught four appren
tices.
M is a woman whose husband was janitor for a
firm twenty years ; when they moved to the new Betz
Building they discharged him as all the janitors there were
white ; after his death they could find no work for his boy.
N was a porter in a book store and rose to be head
postmaster of a sub-station in Philadelphia which handles
$250,000, it is said, a year ; he was also at the head of a
very efficient Bureau of Information in a large department
store. Recently attempts have been made to displace
him, for no specified fault but because u we want his place
for another [white] man."
O is a well-known instance; an observer in 1898
wrote : lt If any Philadelphian who is anxious to study the
matter with his own eyes, will walk along South Eleventh
street, from Chestnut down, and will note the most tasteful
and enterprising stationery and periodical store along the
way, it will pay him to enter it. On entering he will, accord
ing to his way of thinking, be pleased or grieved to see that
it is conducted by Negroes. If the proprietor happens to be
in he may know that this keen-looking pleasant young
man was once assistant business manager of a large white
religious newspaper in the city. A change of management
led to his dismissal. No fault was found, his work was
commended, but a white man was put into his place, and
profuse apologies made.
"The clerk behind the counter is his sister; a neat lady
like woman, educated, and trained in stenography and
typewriting. She could not find in the city of Philadel
phia, any one who had the slightest use for such a colored
woman.
" The result of this situation is this little store, which is
remarkably successful. The proprietor owns the stock,
the store and the building. This is one tale of its sort with
a pleasant ending. Other tales are far less pleasing."
Sect. 47.] Color Prejudice. 343
Much discouragement results from the persistent refusal
to promote colored employes. The humblest white
employe knows that the better he does his work the more
chance there is for him to rise in the business. The black
employe knows that the better he does his work the longer
he may do it ; he cannot often hope for promotion. This
makes much of the criticism aimed against Negroes,
because some of them want to refuse menial labor, lose
something of its point. If the better class of Negro boys
could look on such labor as a stepping-stone to some
thing higher it would be different ; if they must view it as
a lifework we cannot wonder at their hesitation :
A has been a porter at a great locomotive works for
ten years. He is a carpenter by trade and has picked up
considerable knowledge of machinery ; he was formerly
allowed to work a little as a machinist ; now that is stopped
and he has never been promoted and probably never will be.
B has worked in a shop eight years and never been
promoted from his porter's position, although he is a capa
ble man.
C is a porter ; he has been in a hardware store six
years ; he is bright and has repeatedly been promised
advancement but has never got it
D was for seven years in a gang of porters in a
department store, and part of the time acted as foreman.
He had a white boy under him who disliked him ;
eventually the boy was promoted but he remained a
porter. Finally the boy became his boss and discharged
him.
E , a woman, worked long in a family of lawyers ; a
white lad went into their office as office-boy and came to
be a member of the firm ; she had a smart, ambitious son
and asked for any sort of office work for him anything in
which he could hope for promotion. "Why don't you
make him a waiter ? " they asked.
p lias for twenty-one years driven for a lumber
344 The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVI.
firm ; speaks German and is very useful to them, but they
have never promoted him.
G was a porter ; he begged for a chance to work up ;
offering to do clerical work for nothing, but was refused.
White companions were repeatedly promoted over his head.
He has been a porter seventeen years.
H was a servant in the family of one of the members
of a large dry goods firm ; he was so capable that the
employer sent him down to the store for a place which
the manager very reluctantly gave him, He rose to be
registering clerk in the delivering department where he
worked fourteen years and his work was commended.
Recently without notice or complaint he was changed to
run an elevator at the same wages. He thinks that pres
sure from other members of the firm made him lose his work.
Once in a while there are exceptions to this rule. The
Pennsylvania Railroad has promoted one bright and persis
tent porter to a clerkship, which he has held for years.
He had, however, spent his life hunting chances for promo
tion and had been told "You have ability enough, George,
if you were not colored ."
There is much discrimination against Negroes in wages. 7
^n the case of the Colored people, the number of mother wage-
earners more than doubles the number of widows. This is due to the
small average wage of the Colored husband the smallest among the
twenty-seven nationalities. The laundress is the economic supplement
of the porter. . . . It is not because the Colored husband of this
district neglects his responsibility as a wage- winner that so many Colored
women are forced into supplemental toil, for 98.7 per cent of the Colored
husbands are wage-earners, and only 92.2 per cent of the American, 90.3
per cent of the Irish, 96 per cent of the German, 93.7 per cent of the
Italian, 93.1 per cent of the French. The Danes, 80 per cent; Cana
dians, 81.8 per cent; Russians, 85.7 per cent, and Hungarians, 88.8 per
cent, have the smallest percentages. Of the more largely represented
nationalities, the French most nearly approach the Colored people in the
percentage of their wives who are wage-earners; but while the French
percentage is 21.6 per cent, the Colored people's percentage is 53.6 per
cent." Dr. W. Laidlaw in the " Report of a Sociological Canvass of the
Nineteenth Assembly District," a slum section of New York City, in
1897.
Sect. 47.] Color Prejudice. 345
The Negroes have fewer chances for work, have been used
to low wages, and consequently the first thought that
occurs to the average employer is to give a Negro less than
he would offer a white man for the same work. This Is
not universal, but it is widespread. In domestic service
of the ordinary sort there is no difference, because the
wages are a matter of custom. When it comes to waiters,
butlers and coachmen, however, there is considerable
difference made; while white coachmen receive from
$5-$75> tte Negroes do not get usually more than
$30-$6o. Negro hotel waiters get from $i8-$2O, while
whites receive $2O-$3O. Naturally when a hotel manager
replaces $20 men with $30 men he may expect, outside
any question of color, better service.
In ordinary work the competition forces down the wages
outside mere race reasons, though the Negro is the greatest
sufferer; this is especially the case in laundry work.
"" I've counted as high as seven dozen pieces in that wash
ing," said a weary black woman, " and she pays me only
.$1.25 a week for it" Persons who throw away $5 a
week on gew-gaws will often haggle over twenty-five cents
with a washerwoman. There are, however, notable excep
tions to these cases, where good wages are paid to persons
who have long worked for the same family.
Very often if a Negro is given a chance to work at a
trade his wages are cut down for the privilege. This gives
the workingman's prejudice additional intensity:
A got a job formerly held by a white porter ; the
wages were reduced from $12 to $8.
B worked for a firm as china packer, and they said
he was the best packer they had. He, however, received
but $6 a week while the white packers received $ 12.
C has been porter and assistant shipping clerk in an
Arch street store for five years. He receives $6 a week
and whites get $8 for the same work.
D is a stationary engineer ; he learned his trade
346 The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVI,
with this firm and has been with them ten years. Formerly
he received $9 a week, now $10.50 ; whites get $13 for the
same work.
E is a stationary engineer and has been in his place
three years. He receives but $9 a week.
F works with several other Negroes with a firm of
electrical engineers. The white laborers receive $2 a
day : "We've got to be glad to get $1.75."
G was a carpenter, but could get neither sufficient
work nor satisfactory wages. For a job on which he
received $15 a week, his white successor got $18.
H , a cementer, receives $1.75 a day ; white work
men get $2-$3- He has been promised more next fall.
I , a plasterer, has worked for one boss twenty-seven
years. Regular plasterers get $4 or more a day ; he does
the same work, but cannot join the union and is paid as a
laborer $2.50 a day.
j works as a porter in a department store ; is mar
ried, and receives $8 a week. " They pay the same to
white unmarried shop girls, who stand a chance to be
promoted.' *
3. If a Negro enters some line of employment in which
people are not used to seeing him, he suffers from an
assumption that he is unfit for the work. It is reported
that a Chestnut street firm once took a Negro shop girl,
but the protests of their customers were such that they had
to dismiss her. A great many merchants hesitate to
advance Negroes lest they should lose custom. Negro
merchants who have attempted to start business in the city
at first encounter much difficulty from this prejudice:
A has a bakery ; white people sometimes enter and
finding Negroes in charge abruptly leave.
B is a baker and had a shop some years on Vine
street, but prejudice against him barred him from gaining
much custom.
C is a successful expressman with a large business ;
Sect. 47.] Color Prejudice. 347
he is sometimes told by persons that they prefer to
patronize w T hite expressmen.
-D is a woman and keeps a hair store on South
street. Customers sometimes enter, look at her, and leave.
E is a music teacher on Lombard street Several
white people have entered and seeing him, said : " Oh ! I
thought you were white excuse me ! " or " I'll call again ! "
Even among the colored people themselves some preju
dice of this sort is met. Once a Negro physician could
not get the patronage of Negroes because they were not
used to the innovation. Now they have a large part of the
Negro patronage. The Negro merchant, however, still
lacks the full confidence of his own people though this is
slowly growing. It is one of the paradoxes of this question
to see a people so discriminated against sometimes add to
their misfortunes by discriminating against themselves.
They themselves, however, are beginning to recognize this.
4. The chief discrimination against Negroes in expendi
ture is in the matter of rents. There can be no reasonable
doubt but that Negroes pay excessive rents :
A paid $13 a month where the preceding white
family had paid $10.
paid $16 ; "heard that former white family paid
C paid $25 ; " heard that former white family paid
$20."
D paid $12 ; neighbors say that former white family
paid $9.
E - paid $25, instead of $18.
F paid $12, instead of $10.
G >the Negro inhabitants of the whole street pay $iz
to $14 and the whites $9 and $10. The houses are all
alike.
H , whites on this street pay $i5~$i8 ; Negroes pay
$l8-$2I.
Not only is there this pretty general discrimination irt
34 8 The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVI.
rent, but agents and owners will not usually repair the
houses of the blacks willingly or improve them. In
addition to this agents and owners in many sections utterly
refuse to rent to Negroes on any terms. Both these sorts
of discrimination are easily defended from a merely business
point of view ; public opinion in the city is such that the
presence of even a respectable colored family in a block
will affect its value for renting or sale ; increased rent to
Negroes is therefore a sort of insurance, and refusal to
rent a device for money-getting. The indefensible cruelty
lies with those classes who refuse to recognize the right of
respectable Negro citizens to respectable houses. Real
-estate agents also increase prejudice by refusing to dis
criminate between different classes of Negroes. A quiet
Negro family moves into a street. The agent finds no
great objection, and allows the next empty house to go to
any Negro who applies. This family may disgrace and
scandalize the neighborhood and make it harder for decent
families to find homes. 8
In the last fifteen years, however, public opinion has so
greatly changed in this matter that we may expect much
in the future. To-day the Negro population is more widely
scattered over the city than ever before. At the same time
it remains true that as a rule they must occupy the worst
houses of the districts where they live. The advance
made has been a battle for the better class of Negroes. An
ex-Minister to Hayti moved to the northwestern part of
the city and his white neighbors insulted him, barricaded
their steps against him, and tried in every way to make
him move ; to-day he is honored and respected in the
whole neighborhood. Many such cases have occurred ; in
8 Undoubtedly certain classes of Negroes bring much deserved criti
cism on themselves by irregular payment or default of rent, and by the
poor care they take of property. They must not, however, be con
founded with the better classes who make good customers ; this is again
a place for careful discrimination.
Sect 47.] Color Prejudice. 349
others the result was different An estimable young Negro,
just married, moved with his bride into a little street The
neighborhood rose in arms and besieged the tenant and the
landlord so relentlessly that the landlord leased the house
and compelled the young couple to move within a month.
One of the bishops of the A. M. E. Church recently moved
into the newly purchased Episcopal residence on Belmont
avenue, and his neighbors have barricaded their porches
against his view.
5. The chief discrimination against Negro children is in
the matter of educational facilities. Prejudice here works
to compel colored children to attend certain schools where
most Negro children go, or to keep them out of private
and higher schools.
A tried to get her little girl into the kindergarten
nearest to her, at Fifteenth and Locust The teachers
wanted her to send it down across Broad to the kinder
garten chiefly attended by colored children and much
further away from its home. This journey was dangerous
for the child, but the teachers refused to receive it for six
months, until the authorities were appealed to.
In transfers from schools Negroes have difficulty in
getting convenient accommodations ; only within compara
tively few years have Negroes been allowed to complete
the course at the High and Normal Schools without diffi
culty. Earlier than that the University of Pennsylvania
refused to let Negroes sit in the Auditorium and listen to lec
tures, much less to be students. Within two or three years
a Negro student had to fight his way through a city dental
school with his fists, and was treated with every indignity.
Several times Negroes have been asked to leave schools of
stenography, etc., on account of their fellow students. In
1893 a colored woman applied at Temple College, a church
institution, for admission and was refused and advised to
go elsewhere. The college* then offered scholarships to
churches, but would not admit applicants from colored
350 The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVI.
churches. Two years later the same woman applied again.
The faculty declared that they did not object, but that the
students would ; she persisted and was finally admitted
with evident reluctance.
It goes without saying that most private schools, music
schools, etc., will not admit Negroes and in some cases
have insulted applicants.
Such is the tangible form of Negro prejudice in Phila
delphia. Possibly some of the particulur cases cited can
be proven to have had extenuating circumstances unknown
to the investigator ; at the same time many not cited would
be just as much in point. At any rate no one who has with
any diligence studied the situation of the Negro in the city
can long doubt but that his opportunities are limited and
his ambition circumscribed about as has been shown. There
are of course numerous exceptions, but the mass of the
Negroes have been so often refused openings and discour
aged in efforts to better their condition that many of them
say ? as one said, " I never apply I know it is useless. n
Beside these tangible and measurable forms there are
deeper and less easily described results of the attitude of
the white population toward the Negroes : a certain
manifestation of a real or assumed aversion, a spirit of
ridicule or patronage, a vindictive hatred in some, absolute
indifference in others ; all this of course does not make
much difference to the mass of the race, but it deeply
wounds the better classes, the very classes who are attain
ing to that to which we wish the mass to attain. Notwith
standing all this, most Negroes would patiently await the
effect of time and commonsense on such prejudice did it
not to-day touch them in matters of life and death ;
threaten their homes, their food, their children, their hopes.
And the result of this is bound to be increased crime,
inefficiency and bitterness.
It would, of course, be idle to assert that most of the
Negro crime was caused by prejudice ; the violent economic
Sect. 47.] Color Prejudice. 351
and social changes which the last fifty years have brought
to the American Negro, the sad social history that preceded
these changes, have all contributed to unsettle morals and
pervert talents. Nevertheless it is certain that Negro
prejudice in cities like Philadelphia has been a vast factor
in aiding and abetting all other causes which impel a
half-developed race to recklessness and excess. Certainly
a great amount of crime can be without doubt traced to the
discrimination against Negro boys and girls in the matter
of employment. Or to put it differently, Negro prejudice
costs the city something.
The connection of crime and prejudice is, on the other
hand, neither simple nor direct. The boy who is refused
promotion in his job as porter does not go out and snatch
somebody's pocketbook. Conversely the loafers at Twelfth
and Kater streets, and the thugs in the county prison are
not usually graduates of high schools who have been
refused work. The connections are much more subtle and
dangerous ; it is the atmosphere of rebellion and discontent
that unrewarded merit and reasonable but unsatisfied
ambition make. The social environment of excuse, listless
despair, careless indulgence and lack of inspiration to
work is the growing force that turns black boys and girls
into gamblers, prostitutes and rascals. And this social
environment has been built up slowly out of the dis
appointments of deserving men and the sloth of the un-
awakened. How long can a city say to a part of its citizens,
" It is useless to work ; it is fruitless to deserve well of
men ; education will gain you nothing but disappointment
and humiliation ? " How long can a city teach its black
children that the road to success is to have a white face ?
How long can a city do this and escape the inevitable
penalty ?
For thirty years and more Philadelphia has said to its
black children : " Honesty, efficiency and talent have little
to do with your success ; if you work hard, spend little and
352 The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVI.
are good you may earn your bread and butter at those sorts
of work which we frankly confess we despise ; if you are
dishonest and lazy, the State will furnish your bread free."
Thus the class of Negroes which the prejudices of the city
have distinctly encouraged is that of the criminal, the lazy
and the shiftless ; for them the city teems with institutions
and charities ; for them there is succor and sympathy ; for
them Philadelphians are thinking and planning ; but for
the educated and industrious young colored man who
wants work and not platitudes, wages and not alms, just
rewards and not sermons for such colored men Philadel
phia apparently has no use.
What then do such men do? What becomes of the
graduates of the many schools of the city ? The answer
is simple : most of those who amount to anything leave
the city, the others take what they can get for a livelihood.
L,et us for a moment glance at the statistics of three colored
schools : 9
1. The O. V. Catto Primary School.
2. The Robert Vaux Grammar School.
3. The Institute for Colored Youth.
There attended the Catto school, 1867-97, 5915 pupils.
Of these there were promoted from the full course, 653.
129 of the latter are known to be in positions of higher
grade ; or taking out 93 who are still in school, there
remain 36 as follows: 18 teachers, 10 clerks, 2 physicians,
2 engravers, 2 printers, i lawyer and i mechanic.
The other 524 are for the most part in service, laborers
and housewives. Of the 36 more successful ones fully half
are at work outside of the city.
Of the Vaux school there were, 1877-89, 76 graduates.
Of these there are 16 unaccounted for ; the rest are :
Teachers 27 Barbers 4
Musicians 5 Clerks ......... 3
Merchants 3 Physician i
9 Kindly furnished by the principals of these schools.
Sect. 47.] Color Prejudice. 353
Mechanic I Deceased ........ 8
Clergymen 3 Housewives ....... 5
47
From one-half to two-thirds of these have been compelled
to leave the city in order to find work ; one, the artist,
Tanner, whom France recently honored, could not in his
native land much less in his native city find room for his
talents. He taught school in Georgia in order to earn
money enough to go abroad.
The Institute of Colored Youth has had 340 graduates,
1856-97 ; 57 of these are dead. Of the 283 remaining 91
are unaccounted for. The rest are :
Teachers 117 Electrical Engineer . , i
Lawyers 4 Professor i
Physicians 4 Government clerks ... 5
Musicians 4 Merchants . 7
Dentists , . 2 Mechanics 5
Clergymen ....... 2 Clerks 23
Nurses 2 Teacher of cooking . . i
Editor I Dressmakers 4
Civil Engineer i Students ....... 7
192
Here, again, nearly three-fourths of the graduates who
have amounted to anything have had to leave the city for
work. The civil engineer, for instance, tried in vain to
get work here and finally had to go to New Jersey to teach.
There have been 9, possibly n, colored graduates of the
Central High School. These are engaged as follows :
Grocer i Porter i
Clerks in service of city . 2 Butler I
Caterer i Unknown 3 or 5
It is high time that the best conscience of Philadelphia
awakened to her duty ; her Negro citizens are here to
remain ; they can be made good citizens or burdens to the
community ; if we want them to be sources of wealth and
power and not of poverty and weakness then they must be
354 The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVI.
given employment according to their ability and encour
aged to train that ability and increase their talents by the
hope of reasonable reward. To educate boys and girls and
then refuse them work is to train loafers and rogues. 10
From another point of view it could be argued with
much cogency that the cause of economic stress, and conse
quently of crime, was the recent inconsiderate rush of
Negroes into cities ; and that the unpleasant results of this
migration, while deplorable, will nevertheless serve to
check the movement of Negroes to cities and keep them in
the country where their chance for economic development is
widest. This argument loses much of its point from the
fact that it is the better class of educated Philadelphia-
born Negroes who have the most difficulty in obtaining
employment. The new immigrant fresh from the South is
much more apt to obtain work suitable for him than the
black boy born here and trained in efficiency. Neverthe
less it is undoubtedly true that the recent migration has
both directly and indirectly increased crime and competi
tion. How is this movement to be checked ? Much can
be done by correcting misrepresentations as to the oppor
tunities of city life made by designing employment
bureaus and thoughtless persons ; a more strict surveillance
of criminals might prevent the influx of undesirable
elements. Such efforts, however, would not touch the
main stream of immigration. Back of that stream is the
world-wide desire to rise in the world, to escape the
choking narrowness of the plantation, and the lawless
repression of the village, in the South. It is a search for
better opportunities of living, and as such it must be dis
couraged and repressed with great care and delicacy, if at
all. The real movement of reform is the raising of
economic standards and increase of economic opportunity
in the South. Mere land and climate without law and
10 Cf. on this point the interesting article of John Stevens Durham in
the Atlantic Monthly, 1898.
Sect. 48.] Benevolence. 355
order, capital and skill, will not develop a country. When
Negroes in the South have a larger opportunity to work,
accumulate property, be protected in life and limb, and
encourage pride and self-respect in their children, there
will be a diminution in the stream of immigrants to
Northern cities. At the same time if those cities practice
industrial exclusion against these immigrants to such an
extent that they are forced to become paupers, loafers and
criminals, they can scarcely complain of conditions in the
South. Northern cities should not, of course, seek to
encourage and invite a poor quality of labor, with low
standards of life and morals. The standards of wages and
respectability should be kept up ; but when a man reaches
those standards in skill, efficiency and decency no question
of color should, in a civilized community, debar him from
an equal chance with his peers in earning a living.
48. Benevolence. 11 In the attitude of Philadelphia
toward the Negro may be traced the same contradictions
so often apparent in social phenomena; prejudice and
apparent dislike conjoined with widespread and deep
sympathy ; there can, for instance, be no doubt of the
sincerity of the efforts put forth by Philadelphians to help
the Negroes. Much of it is unsystematic and ill-directed
and yet it has behind it a broad charity and a desire to
relieve suffering and distress. The same Philadelphian
who would not let a Negro work in his store or mill will
contribute handsomely to relieve Negroes in poverty and
distress. There are in the city the following charities
exclusively designed for Negroes :
Home for Aged and Infirm Colored Persons, Belmont
and Girard avenues. 12
11 No attempt has been made here to make any intensive study of the
efforts to help Negroes, which are widespread and commendable; they
need, however, a study which would extend the scope of this inquiry
too far.
a Founded, and supported in part, by Negroes. Cf. Chap. XII.
356 The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVI.
Home for Destitute Colored Children, Berks street and
Old Lancaster road.
St. Mary Day Nursery, 1627 Lombard street
The Association for the Care of Colored Orphans, Forty-
fourth and Wallace streets.
Frederick Douglass Memorial Hospital and Training
School, 1512 Lombard street. 13
Magdalen Convent House of the Good Shepherd (Roman
Catholic), Penn and Chew streets, Germantown.
St. Mary's Mission for Colored People, 162329 Lombard
street.
Raspberry Street School, 229 Raspberry street.
The Star Kitchen, and allied enterprises, Seventh and
Lombard streets.
Colored Industrial School, Twentieth street, below
Walnut.
Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, for Indians and Colored
People, CornwelPs Station, Pa.
Men's Guild House, 1628 Lombard street.
House of St. Michael and All Angels, 613 North Forty-
third street
The Industrial Exchange Training School and Dormi
tory, 756 South Twelfth street. 13
Fifty-nine of the charities mentioned in the Civic Club
Digest discriminate against colored persons. Fifty-one
societies profess to make no discrimination ; in the case of
the larger and better known societies this is true, as, for
instance, the Home Missionary Society, the Union Benevo
lent Association, the Protestant Episcopal City Mission,
the Charity Organization Society, the Children's Aid
Society, the Society to Prevent Cruelty to Children, etc.
Others, however, exercise a silent policy against Negroes.
The Country Week Association, for instance, would rather
Negroes should not apply, although it sends a few away
18 Founded, and supported in part, by Negroes. Cf. Chap. XEL
Sect. 48.] Benevolence. 357
each summer. Colored applicants at the building of the
Young Woman's Christian Association are not very
welcome. So with many other societies and institutions.
This veiled discrimination is very unjust, for it makes it
seem as though the Negro had more help than he does.
On the other hand between donors, prejudiced persons,
friends of the Negro, and the beneficiaries, the managers of
many of these enterprises find it by far the easiest method
silently to draw the color line.
Fifty-seven other charities make no explicit statement as
to whether they discriminate or not To sum up then :
Charitable agencies exclusively for Negroes 14
" " " " Whites 59
" *' which profess not to discriminate,
but in some cases do 51
* *' which make no statements, but usu
ally discriminate 57
~i8r
On the whole it is fair to say that about one half of
the charities of Philadelphia, so far as mere numbers
are concerned, are open to Negroes. In the different
kinds of charity, however, some disproportion is notice
able. Of direct almsgiving, the most questionable and
least organized sort of charity, the Negroes receive
probably far more than their just proportion, as a study
of the work of the great distributing societies clearly
shows. On the other hand, protective, rescue and reforma
tory work is not applied to any great extent among them.
Consequently, while actual poverty and distress among
Negroes is quickly relieved, there are only a few agencies
to prevent the better classes from sinking or to reclaim
the fallen or to protect the helpless and the children.
Even the agencies of this sort open to the Negroes are not
always taken advantage of, partly through ignorance and
carelessness, partly because they fear discrimination or be
cause they are apt to be treated the same whether they be
from Addison street or Middle alley.
358 The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVI.
Much of the benevolence of the whites has been checked
because the classes on whom it has been showered have
not appreciated it, and because there has been no careful
attempt to discriminate between different sorts of Negroes.
After all, the need of the Negro, as of so many unfortunate
classes, is " not alms but a friend."
There are a few homes, asylums, nurseries, hospitals and
the like for work among Negroes, which are doing excel
lent work and deserve commendation. It is to be hoped
that this sort of work will receive needed encouragement
49. The Intermarriage of the Races. For years much
has been said on the destiny of the Negro with regard to
intermarriage with the whites. To many this seems the
difficulty that differentiates the Negro question from all
other social questions which we face, and makes it seem
ingly insoluble; the questions of ignorance, crime and
immorality, these argue, may safely be left to the influence
of time and education ; but will time and training ever
change the obvious fact that the white people of the
country do not wish to mingle socially with the Negroes
or to join blood in legal wedlock with them ? This prob
lem is, it must be acknowledged, difficult. Its difficulty
arises, however, rather from an ignorance of surrounding
facts than from the theoretic argument. Theory in such
case is of little value ; the white people as members of the
races now dominant in the world naturally boast of their
blood and accomplishments, and recoil from an alliance
with a people which is to-day represented by a host of
untrained and uncouth ex-slaves. On the other hand,
whatever his practice be, the Negro as a free American
citizen must just as strenuously maintain that marriage is
a private contract, and that given two persons of proper
age and economic ability who agree to enter into that
relation, it does not concern any one but themselves as to
whether one of them be white, black or red. It is thus
that theoretical argument comes to an unpleasant stand-
Sect. 49.] The Intermarriage of the Races. 359
still, and its further pursuit really settles nothing, nay,
rather unsettles much, by bringing men's thoughts to a
question that is, at present at least, of little practical impor
tance. For in practice the matter works itself out : the
average white person does not marry a Negro; and the
average Negro, despite his theory, himself marries one of
his race, and frowns darkly on his fellows unless they do
likewise. In those very circles of Negroes who have a
large infusion of white blood, where the freedom of mar
riage is most strenuously advocated, white wives have
always been treated with a disdain bordering on insult,
and white husbands never received on any terms of social
recognition.
Notwithstanding theory and the practice of whites and
Negroes in general, it is nevertheless manifest that the
white and black races have mingled their blood in this
country to a vast extent Such facts puzzle the foreigner
and are destined to puzzle the future historian. A serious
student of the subject gravely declares in one chapter that
the races are separate and distinct and becoming more so,
and in another that by reason of the intermingling of
white blood the " original type of the African has almost
completely disappeared ; " " here we have reflected the
prevailing confusion in the popular mind. Race amalga
mation is a fact, not a theory ; it took place, however,
largely under the institution of slavery and for the most
part, though not wholly, outside the bonds of legal
marriage. With the abolition of slavery now, and the
establishment of a self-protecting Negro home the question
is, what have been the tendencies and the actual facts with
regard to the intermarriage of races? This is the only
question with which students have to do, and this singu
larly enough has been the one which they, with curious
unanimity, have neglected. We do not know the facts
"Hoffman's "Race Traits and Tendencies/* eta, pjx I and 177.
360 The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVI.
with regard to the mingling of white and black blood in
the past save in a most general and unsatisfactory way ;
we do not know the facts for to-day at all. And yet, of
course, without this knowledge all philosophy of the
situation is vain ; only long observation of the course of
intermarriage can furnish us that broad knowledge of facts
which can serve as a basis for race theories and final con
clusions. 15
The first legal obstacle to the intermarriage of whites
and blacks in Pennsylvania was the Act of 1726, which
forbade such unions in terms that would seem to indicate
that a few such marriages had taken place. Mulattoes early
appeared in the State, and especially in Philadelphia, some
being from the South and some from up the State. Sailors
from this port in some cases brought back English, Scotch
and Irish wives, and mixed families immigrated here at the
time of the Haytian revolt. Between 1820 and 1860 many
natural children were sent from the South and in a few
cases their parents followed and were legally married here.
Descendants of such children in many cases forsook the
mother's race ; one became principal of a city school, one
a prominent sister in a Catholic church, one a bishop, and
one or two officers in the Confederate army. 16 Some mar
riages with Quakers took place, one especially in 1825,
when a Quakeress married a Negro, created much com
ment. Descendants of this couple still survive. Since
the War the number of local marriages has considerably
increased.
In this work there was originally no intention of treating
the subject of intermarriage, for it was thought that the data
would be too insignificant to be enlightening. When,
ls Hoffman has the results of some intermarriages recorded, but they
are chiefly reports of criminals in the newspapers, and thus manifestly
unfair for generalization.
16 From a personal letter of a life long Philadelphian, whose name I am
not at liberty to quote.
Sect. 49.] The Intermarriage of the Races.
361
however, in one ward of the city thirty-three cases of
mixed marriages were found, and it was known that there
were others in that ward, and probably a similar proportion
in many other wards, it was thought that a study of these
thirty-three families might be of interest and be a small
contribution of fact to a subject where facts are not easily
accessible.
The size of these families varies, of course, with the
question as to what one considers a family ; if we take the
" census family," or all those living together under circum
stances of family life in one home, the average size of the
thirty-three families of the Seventh Ward in which there
were intermarried whites was 3.5. If we take simply the
father, mother and children, the average size was 2.9.
There were ninety-seven parents and children in these
families, and twenty other relatives living with them,
making 117 individuals in the families. Tabulated they
are as follows :
Number of
Persons in the
Real Family.
Number of Persons in the Census Family.
Total
Real
Families.
Total Indi
viduals in
Real
Family.
2
3
4
5
6
13
Two ....
Three . . .
Four
II
4
5
i
i
I
17
6
6
3
I
34
18
24
15
6
6
Five ....
2
i
i
, . .
Six . -
Total Census
Families.
II
9
7
3
2
I
33
97
Total Individ
uals in Census
Family.
22
27
28
15
12
13
117
Individuals in
Census Family.
Of the intermarried whites there are four husbands and
twenty-nine wives, Let us first consider the families
having the four white husbands :
362
The Contact of the Races, [Chap. XVI.
FOUR WHITE HUSBANDS.
No. i.
No. 2.
No. 3.
No. 4.
Age
48
52
3i
32
Birthplace . .
Philadelphia.
Georgia.
Cuba?
>
No. of years res
ident in Phil
adelphia . .
48
7
?
12
Reads and
Writes?
Reads.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Occupation . .
Street car dri
ver, laborer.
Motorman on
electric cars.
Tobacconist.
Painter.
No. of Children
by this Mar
riage ....
4
o
o
o
Social grade . .
Third.
Second.
Fourth.
?
THEIR FOUR NEGRO WIVES.
No. i.
NO. 2.
No. 3.
No. 4.
Age
3S
29
30
28
Birthplace . .
Maryland.
Georgia.
;>
Virginia.
Years resident
in Philadel
phia ....
25
7
?
ii
Reads and
Writes . . . No.
Reads.
Yes.
Yes.
Occupation . . Housewife and
Housewife.
Housewife.
Cook.
day's work.
Children by this
Marriage . . 1 4
o
o
o
Social grade .
Third.
Second.
Fourth.
?
The third family may be simply a case of cohabitation,
and not enough is known of the fourth to make any judg
ment. The second family lives in a comfortable home and
appears contented. The first family is poor and the man
lazy and good-natured.
The twenty-nine white wives were of the following ages :
15 to 19 i
20 to 24 7
25 to 29 8
30 to 39 . 8
40 to 49 3
50 and over I
Unknown I
Total
29
Sect 49.] The Intermarriage of the Races. 363
They were born as follows :
Philadelphia 6 Hungary I
Ireland 6 Virginia I
England 3 Maryland i
Scotland 2 Delaware I
New York 2 Unknown 3
Germany 2
Canada ....... i Total 29
By rearranging this table we have for the known cases :
Born in Philadelphia
" " the United States . . n
11 " " North 8
" " " South . 3
" " foreign lands 15
Those not born in Philadelphia have resided there as
follows :
X^ess than I year i
One to three years i
Five to ten years 3
Over ten years 8
Unknown . 10
*3
Born in Philadelphia 6
29
These wives are occupied as follows :
Housewives 18
" and day's work 3
Waitresses 2
No occupation or unknown 3
Cook i
Merchant I
Service , I
29
Only one of these women was reported as illiterate, and
in the case of three no return was made as to illiteracy.
Fourteen of these wives had no children by this mar
riage ; 6 had i child, 6 had 2 children, 3 had 3 children ;
364 The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVI.
making 27 children in all. Of the 14 having no children
5 were women under twenty-five recently married ; 2 were
women over forty and probably past child-bearing. Several
of the remaining 7 were, in all probability, lewd.
Of the colored husbands of these white wives we have
the following statistics :
Ageis to 24 2 50 and over i
25 to 29 5 Unknown 2
30 to 39 12
40 to 49 7 Total 29
Birthplace Philadelphia ... 5 North Carolina .... i
Maryland . ..." 5 Massachusetts .... i
Virginia 5 Alabama . i
District of Columbia 3 New York I
Delaware 2 Unknown 2
Kentucky .... i
New Jersey .... i Total 29
Texas I
Born in Philadelphia 5
" " North 8
" " South 19
Illiteracy Can read and write 23
Illiterate 4
Unknown 2
Total 29
Occupations Baker and Merchant . . i
Waiter 9 Stationary Engineer . . i
Porter . 3 Ivaborer I
Barber 2 Stevedore i
Steward 2 Caterer i
Cook 2 Messenger i
Restaurant Keeper . . 2 Bootblack i
Helper and Engineer . i Unknown i
Total 29
The social grade of thirty-two of these families is thought
to be as follows:
First grade, four families. These all live well and are
Sect. 49. ] The Intermarriage of the Races.
365
comfortable ; the wife stays at home and the children
at school. Everything indicates comfort and content
ment.
Second grade, fifteen families. These are ordinary work
ing-class families ; the wife in some cases helps as a bread
winner ; none of them are in poverty, many are young
couples just starting in married life. All are decent and
respectable.
Third grade, six families. These are poor families of
low grade, but not immoral; some are lazy, some unfor
tunate.
Fourth grade, seven families. Many of these are cases
of permanent cohabitation and the women for the most
part are or were prostitutes. They live in the slums mostly,
and in some cases have lived together many years. None
of them have children, or at least have none living with
them at present.
Let us now glance a moment at the 31 children of
these mixed marriages: 27 born of white mothers by
Negro husbands, and 4 of Negro mothers by white
husbands:
Age.
Male.
Female.
Total.
Uncler I year .........
o
^
12 . ....
2
5'
7-C . . .
4
i
7
6-10 .....
3
5
*
I
A
16-10
2
2
2020 . .
2
__
2
Total
16
IS
31
Of school age, 5-20 14
Number in school 12
Number over 10 who are illiterate ...... . . o
At work, I, as porter.
The homes occupied by these families and the rents
paid monthly are :
366
The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVI.
Number of Rooms.
$5 and
under.
|6-lo.
$11-15.
$16-20.
Over $20.
Total
Families.
I (tenant) . .
2
2
/I
I Clodcrinfir)
i
__
7
2 . .
_
__
\
5
4
^^
4. . -
4
4
2
_
2
5. . .
6 ..........
:
I
2
6
7 .
2
2
8 or more ....
^
Total
5
7
13
I
7
77
One family owns real estate (building lots).
One family belongs to a building" and loan association.
The data here presented constitute too narrow a basis for
many general conclusions even for a single city. Of the 2441
families in the ward these families represent 1.35 per cent.
There are two or more other cases in the Seventh Ward
not catalogued. If this percentage holds good in the
remaining parts of the city there would be about one
hundred and fifty such marriages in the city ; there are no
data on this point.
It is often said that only the worst Negroes and lowest
whites intermarry. This is certainly untrue in Philadel
phia ; to be sure among the lowest classes there is a large
number of temporary unions and much cohabitation. In
the case of the Seventh Ward several of such cases were
not noticed at all in the above record as they savor more of
prostitution than of marriage. On the other hand it is an
error certainly in this ward to regard marriages of this sort
as confined principally to the lower classes ; on the con
trary they take place most frequently in the laboring
classes, and especially among servants^ where there is the
most contact between the races. Among the best class of
Negroes and whites such marriages seldom occur although
one notable case occurred in 1897 ^ n Philadelphia, where
there could be no question of the good social standing of
the parties.
Sect. 49.] The Intermarriage of the Races. 367
As to the tendencies of the present, and the general
result of such marriages there are no reliable data. That
more separations occur in such marriages than in others is
very probable. It is certainly a strain on affections to
have to endure not simply the social ostracism of the whites
but of the blacks also. Undoubtedly this latter acts as a
more practical deterrent than the first. For, while a
Negro expects to be ostracized by the whites, and his
white wife agrees to it by her marriage vow, neither of
them are quite prepared for the cold reception they invari
ably meet with among the Negroes. This is the con
sideration that makes the sacrifice in such marriages
great, and makes it perfectly proper to give the aphoristic
marriage advice of Punch to those contemplating such
alliances. Nevertheless one must candidly acknowledge
that there are respectable people who are thus married and
are apparently contented and as happy as the average of
mankind. It is difficult to see whose concern their choice
is but their own, or why the world should see fit to insult
or slander them.
CHAPTER XVII.
NKGRO SUFFRAGE.
50. The Significance of the Experiment. The indis
criminate granting of universal suffrage to freedmen and
foreigners was one of the most daring experiments of a too
venturesome nation. In the case of the Negro its only
justification was that the ballot might serve as a weapon of
defence for helpless ex-slaves, and would at one stroke
enfranchise those Negroes whose education and standing
entitled them to a voice in the government. There can be
no doubt but that the wisest provision would have been an
educational and property qualification impartially enforced
against ex-slaves and immigrants. In the absence of such
a provision it was certainly more just to admit the
untrained and ignorant than to bar out all Negroes in spite
of their qualifications ; more just, but also more dangerous.
Those who from time to time have discussed the results
of this experiment have usually looked for their facts in
the wrong place, t. e., in the South. Under the peculiar
conditions still prevailing in the South no fair trial of the
Negro voter could have been made. The " carpet-bag "
governments of reconstruction time were in no true sense
the creatures of Negro voters, nor is there to-day a Southern
State where free untrammeled Negro suffrage prevails. It
is then to Northern communities that one must turn to
study the Negro as a voter, and the result of the experi
ment in Pennsylvania while not decisive is certainly
instructive.
51. The History of Negro Suffrage in Pennsylvania.
The laws for Pennsylvania agreed upon in England in
1682 declared as qualified electors " every inhabitant in the
said province, that is or shall be a purchaser of one
(368)
Sect. 51.] Negro Suffrage in Pennsylvania. 369
hundred acres of land or upwards, .... and every person
that hath been a servant or bondsman, and is free by his
service, that shall have taken up his fifty acres of land,
and cultivated twenty thereof;" and also some other
taxpayers. 1
These provisions were in keeping with the design of
partially freeing Negroes after fourteen years service and
contemplated without doubt black electors, at least in
theory. It is doubtful if many Negroes voted under this
provision although that is possible. In the call for the
Convention of 1776 no restriction as to color was men
tioned, 2 and the constitution of that year gave the right
of suffrage to u every freeman of the full age of twenty-one
years, having resided in this State for the space of one
whole year." 3 Probably some Negro electors in Penn
sylvania helped choose the framers of the Constitu
tion.
In the Convention of 1790 no restriction as to color was
adopted and the suffrage article as finally decided upon
read as follows :
4 ' Article III, Section i. In elections by the citizens,
every freeman of the age of twenty-one years, having
resided in the State two years next before the election, and
within that time paid a State or county tax, which shall
have been assessed at least six months before the election,
shall enjoy the rights of an elector. " 4
Nothing in the printed minutes of the convention indi
cates any attempt in the convention to prohibit Negro-
suffrage, but Mr. Albert Gallatin declared in 1837: "I
have a lively recollection that in some stages of the discus
sion the proposition pending before the convention limited
* " Minutes of the Conventions of 1776 and J79O'* (Ed. 1825) pp. 3*~3$'>
Cf. p. 26.
2 Ibid., pp. 38-39.
Ibid ., p. 57-
* Ibid., p. 300. Cf. " Pardon's Digest/' sixth edition.
370 Negro Suffrage. [Chap. XVII.
the right of suffrage to * free white citizens/ etc., and that
the word white was struck out on my motion." 5
It was alleged afterward that in 1795 the question came
before the High Court of Errors and Appeals and that its
decision denied the right to Negroes. No written decision
of this sort was ever found, however, and it is certain that
for nearly a half century free Negroes voted in parts of
Pennsylvania. 6
As the Negro population increased, however, and ignor
ant and dangerous elements entered, and as the slavery
controversy grew warmer, the feeling against Negroes
increased and with it opposition to their right to vote. In
July, 1837, the Supreme Court sitting at Sunbury took up
the celebrated case of Hobbs et aL against Fogg. Fogg
was a free Negro and taxpayer, and had been denied the
right to vote by Hobbs and others, the judges and inspec
tors of election in Luzerne County. He brought action and
was sustained in the Court of Common Pleas, but the
Supreme Court under Judge Gibson reversed this judgment.
The decision rendered was an evident straining of law and
sense. The judge sought to refer to the decision of 1795,
but could cite no written record ; he explained the striking
out of the word " white " in the constitutional convention
as done to prevent insult to " dark colored white men,"
and held that a Negro, though free, could never be a
freeman. 7
All doubt was finally removed by the reform constitu
tional convention of 1837-38. The article on suffrage
as reported to the convention May 17, 1837, was practi
cally the same as in the Constitution of 1790. 8 This
5 " Proceedings and Debates of the Convention of 1837,'* X, 45. Cf.
Purvis in * 'Appeal of 40,000 Citizens." The printed minutes give only
the main results with few details.
6 6 Watts, 553-560, "Pennsylvania Reports. " "Proceedings, etc.,
Convention 1837-8, II, 476.
7 6 Watts, 553-60, ** Pennsylvania Reports."
s "Proceedings and Debates, J> I, 233.
Sect 51.] Negro Suffrage in Pennsylvania. 371
article was taken up June 19, 1837. There was an
attempt to amend the report and to restrict the suffrage
to u free white male" citizens. The attempt was de
fended as being in consonance with the regulations of
other States, and with the real facts in Pennsylvania,
since " In the county of Philadelphia the colored man
could not with safety appear at the polls," 9 The amend
ment, however, met opposition and was withdrawn. The
matter arose again a few days later but was voted down by
a vote of 6 1 to 49. 10
The friends of exclusion now began systematic efforts to
stir up public opinion. No less than forty-five petitions
against Negro suffrage were handed in, especially from
Bucks County, where a Negro had once nearly succeeded
in being elected to the legislature. Many petitions too
in favor of retaining the old provisions came in, but it was
charged that the convention would not print petitions in
favor of Negro suffrage, and some members did not wish
even to receive petitions from Negroes. 11
The discussion of the Third Article recurred January 17,
1838, and a long argument ensued. Finally the word
u white" was inserted in the qualifications of voters by a
vote of 77 to 45. A protracted struggle took place to
soften this regulation in various ways, but all efforts failed
and the final draft, which was eventually adopted by
popular vote, had the following provisions : tt
"Article III, Section i. In elections by the citizens,
every white freeman of the age of twenty-one years, having
resided in this State one year, and in the electoral district
where he offers to vote ten days immediately preceding
such election, and within two years paid a State or county
tax, which shall have been assessed at least ten days
* " Proceedings and Debates, " II, 478.
Ibid., Ill, 82-92.
11 Ibid., Volumes IV-IX.
Ibid., IX, 320-397, X, 1-134-
372 Negro Suffrage. [Chap. XVII.
before the election, shall enjoy the rights of an elector." ls
This disfranchisement lasted thirty-two years, until the
passage of the Fifteenth Amendment. The Constitution
of 1874 formally adopted this change. 1 * Since 1870 the
experiment of untrarnmeled Negro suffrage has been made
throughout the State.
52. City Politics. About 5500 Negroes were eligible
to vote in the city of Philadelphia, in 1870. The question
first arises. Into what sort of a political atmosphere were
they introduced, and what training did they receive for
their new responsibilities ?
Few large cities have such a disreputable record for mis-
government as Philadelphia. In the period before the
war the city was ruled by the Democratic party, which
retained its power by the manipulation of a mass of
ignorant and turbulent foreign voters, chiefly Irish. Riots,
disorder, and crime were the rule in the city proper and
especially in the surrounding districts. About the time of
the breaking out of the war, the city was consolidated and
made coterminous with the county. The social up
heaval after the Civil War gave tlie political power to the
Republicans and a new era of misrule commenced. Open
disorder and crime were repressed, but in its place came
the rule of the boss, with its quiet manipulation and cal
culating embezzlement of public funds. To-day the gov
ernment of both city and State is unparalleled in the
history of republican government for brazen dishonesty
and bare-faced defiance of public opinion. The supporters
of this government have been, by a vast majority, white
men and native Americans ; the Negro vote has never
exceeded 4 per cent of the total registration.
13 " Purdon," sixth edition.
14 The Constitution of 1874 gave the right of suffrage to " Kvery male
citizen of the United States of the age of twenty-one years "
'Debates" etc., I, 503, etc. See Index " Constitution of Pennsylvania, "
Article VIII; and also the Act of 6 April, 1870,
Sect. 53.] Some Bad Results of Negro Suffrage. 373
Manifestly such a political atmosphere was the worst
possible for the new untutored voter. Starting himself
without political ideals, he was put under the tutelage of
unscrupulous and dishonest men whose ideal of government
was to prostitute it to their own private ends. As the
Irishman had been the tool of the Democrats, so the
Negro became the tool of the Republicans. It was natural
that the freedman should vote for the party that emanci
pated him, and perhaps, too, it was natural that a party
with so sure a following, should use it unscrupulously.
The result to be expected from such a situation was that
the Negro should learn from his surroundings a low ideal
of political morality and no conception of the real end of
party loyalty. At the same time we ought to expect indi
vidual exceptions to this general level, and some evidences
of growth.
53. Some Bad Results of Negro Suffrage. The experi
ment of Negro suffrage in Philadelphia has developed
three classes of Negro voters : a large majority of voters
who vote blindly at the dictates of the party and, while
not open to direct bribery, accept the indirect emoluments
of office or influence in return for party loyalty ; a consid
erable group, centering in the slum districts, which casts a
corrupt purchasable vote for the highest bidder ; lastly, a
very small group of independent voters who seek to use
their vote to better present conditions of municipal life.
The political morality of the first group of voters, that
is to say, of the great mass of Negro voters, corresponds
roughly to that of the mass of white voters, but with this
difference : the ignorance of the Negro in matters of gov
ernment is greater and his devotion to party blinder and
more unreasoning. Add to this the mass of recent immi
grants from the South, with the political training of re
construction and post-bellum days, and one can easily see
how poorly trained this body of electors has been.
Under such circumstances it is but natural that political
374 Negro Suffrage. [Chap. XVII.
morality and knowledge should be even slower in spread
ing among Negroes than wealth and general intelligence.
One consequently finds among those of considerable intelli
gence and of upright lives such curious misapprehension
of political duties as is illustrated by the address of the
Afro-American League to the mayor of the city, February
8, 1897:
"MR. MAYOR: We desire Erst and foremost, to tender you our pro
found thanks for the honor of this cordial reception. We regard it, sir,
as proof of the recognition on your part of that just and most admirable
custom of our country's government, which permits the subjects, however
humble may be their condition in life, to see their ruler as well as feel
the workings of his power.
" We are here to state to your excellency that the colored citizens of
Philadelphia are penetrated with feelings of inexpressible grief at the
manner in which they have thus far been overlooked and ignored by the
Republican party in this city, in giving out work and otherwise distribu
ting the enormous patronage in the gift of the party. We are therefore
here, sir, to earnestly beseech of you as a faithful Republican and our
worthy chief executive, to use your potent influence as well as the good
offices of your municipal government, if not inconsistent with the public
weal, to procure for the colored people of this city a share at least, of the
public work and the recognition which they now ask for and feel to be
justly due to them, no less as citizens and taxpayers, than on a basis of
their voting strength of something over 14,000 in the Republican party
here in Philadelphia.
* ' As the chosen organ of this body of men I am actuated by a due sense
of their earnestness of purpose in this matter and I regret to be inade
quate to the task of convincing you, Mr. Mayor, of the deep interest
which is being universally manifested by the colored element in Philadel
phia in this somewhat important question. The colored people neither
ask for nor expect extremes; we only claim that our loyal fidelity to the
Republican party should count, at some time, for some benefits to at least
a reasonable number of the colored race when our friends are installed
into place and power; and, cherishing as we do, sir, the most implicit
confidence in your justice as the chief executive of this great city, we
firmly believe that this most unfair treatment of which our people now
complain, would not fail, when brought thus to your attention, in moving
you in our humble behalf. We, therefore, have here to present for your
candid consideration a paper containing the names of some worthy and
reliable men of our race and they are respectfully urged for appointment
as indicated on the face of that paper, and out of a desire, Mr. Mayor, to
facilitate your efforts should you take favorable action upon this matter,
these men, as we will state, have been selected as near as possible from
Sect. 53.] Some Bad Results of Negro Suffrage. 375
every section of the city, as well as upon the proof of their fitness for the
places named."
The organization which here speaks is not large or
nearly as representative as it claims to be ; it is simply a
small faction of u outs " who are striving to get " in." The
significant thing about the address is the fact that a con
siderable number of fairly respectable and ordinarily
intelligent citizens should think this a perfectly legitimate
and laudable demand. This represents the political
morality of the great mass of ordinary Negro voters. And
what more does it argue than that they have learned their
lesson well and recited it bluntly but honestly? What
more do the majority of American politicians and voters
to-day say in action if not in word than : " Here is my
vote, now where is my pay in office or favor or influence ?"
What thousands are acting, this delegation had the charm
ing simplicity to say plainly and then to print.
Moreover one circumstance makes this attitude of mind
more dangerous among Negroes than among whites ;
Negroes as a class are poor and as laborers are restricted to
few and unremunerative occupations ; consequently the
bribe of office is to them a far larger and alluring tempta
tion than to the mass of whites. In other words here are
a people more ignorant than their fellows, with stronger
tendencies to dishonesty and crime, who are offered a far
larger bribe than ordinary men to enter politics for personal
gain. The result is obvious : " Of course I'm in politics,"
said a Negro city watchman, " it's the only way a colored
man can get a position where he can earn a decent living/'
He was a fireman by trade, but Philadelphia engineers
object to working with " Niggers."
If this is the result in the case of an honest man, how
great is the temptation to the vicious and lazy. This
brings us to the second class of voters the corrupt class,
which sells its votes more or less openly.
The able-bodied, well-dressed loafers and criminals who
37 6 Negro Suffrage. [Chap. XVII.
infest the sidewalks of parts of the Fifth, Seventh and
other wards are supported partly by crime and gambling,
partly by the prostitution of their female paramours, but
mainly from the vast corruption fund gathered from office
holders and others, and distributed according to the will of
the party Boss. The Public Ledger said in 1896 :
iv It is estimated that the Republican City Committee realized nearly if
not all of $100,000 from the i)4 per cent assessment levied upon municipal
officeholders for this campaign. Of this sum $40,000 has been paid for
the eighty thousand tax receipts to qualify Republican voters. This leaves
$60,000 at the disposal of David Martin, the Combine leader. " *
How is this corruption fund used? Without doubt a
large part of it is spent in the purchase of votes. It is of
course difficult to estimate the directly purchasable vote
among the whites or among the Negroes, Once in a while
when "thieves fall out" some idea of the bribery may
be obtained ; for instance in a hearing relative to a Third
Ward election :
William Reed, of Catharine street, below Thirteenth, was first on the
stand. He was watcher in the Fifteenth Division on election day.
'* Did you make up any election papers for voters?" asked Mr. Ingham.
" I marked up about seventy or eighty ballots; I got $20 off of Roberts*
brother, and used $100 altogether, paying the rest out of my own pocket. ' '
" How did you spend the money?"
" Oh, well, there were some few objectionable characters there to make
trouble. We'd give 'em a few dollars to go away and attend to their
business." Then he addressed Mr. Ingham directly, *' You know how it
works."
" I'd give 'em a dollar to buy a cigar. And if they didn't want to pay
$1 for a cigar t "why, they could put it in the contribution box at church."
" Was this election conducted in the usual way?" inquired. Mr. Sterr.
** Oh, yes, the way they're conducted in the Third Ward with vote
buying, and all the rest of it."
" Bid the other side have any money to spend?"
" Saunders had $16 to the division."
'* What did your side have?"
" Oh, we had about $60 ; there was money to burn. But our money
went to three people. The other fellows saved theirs. I spent mir
like a sucker."
15 October 5, 1896.
Sect. 53.] Some Bad Results of Negro Sujjrage. 377
James Brown, a McKinley-Citizen worker, began his testimony indig
nantly.
" Election? Why Reed and Morrow, the judges of the election, run
the whole shootin' match," he declared, " It jsvas all a farce. I brought
voters up ; and Reed would take 'em away from me. When we chal
lenged anybody, Reed and the others would have vouchers ready."
" Did they use money ?"
"There was a good deal of money through the division. We wasn't
even allowed to mark ballots for our own people who asked for help.
The judge would ask 'em if they could read and write. When they said
f yes,' he'd tell 'em they were able to mark their own ballot. There were
even some people who wanted to mark their own ballots. Reed would
simply grab 'em and mark their ballots, whether they liked it or not."
Lavinia Brown, colored, of the rear of 1306 Kater street, said that Mr.
Bradford was judge on election day, of the Sixteenth Division, and that
on the morning of the election she cooked his breakfast. She said that
I. Newton Roberts came to the house, and in her presence gave Bradford
a roll of notes, at the same time throwing her $ 2, but she did not know
for what purpose he gave it.
George W. Green, colored, of 1224 Catharine street, said he was a
watcher at the polls of the Sixteenth Division. He told of fraud and
how the voters were treated.
" Were you offered any money ?"
** Yes, sir. Lincoln Roberts came over to me and shoved $50 at me,
but I turned him down and would not take it, because I didn't belong to
that crowd." Continuing, he said: "Seven or eight men were chal
lenged, but it did not amount to anything, because Lincoln Roberts
would tell the police to eject them. He also vouched for men who did
not live in the ward. This condition of affairs continued all day."
Several other witnesses followed, whose testimony was similar to
Green's, and who declared that money was distributed freely by the
Roberts faction to buy over voters. They said that challenges were dis
regarded, and that the election was a farce. Voters were kept out, and
when it was known that any of Saunders* adherents were coming a rash
would be made, making it impossible for that side to enter the booth.
Philip Brown, a McKinley-Citizen watcher, said that the election was
a fraud. He saw Mr. Roberts with a pile of money, going around shout
ing, u That's the stuff that wins I" When asked what the judge was doing
all this time he said:
" Why, the judge belonged to Mr. Roberts, who had rail control of the
polling place all day."
William Hare, of 1346 Kater street, proved an interesting witness. His
story is as follows :
" Mr. Lincoln Roberts brought my tax receipt and told me to come
around to the club. I went and was given a bundle of tax receipts,
378 Negro Suffrage. [Chap. XVII.
marked for other men, and told to deliver them. The next day being
election day I made it a point to watch, and saw that every man to whom
I gave a receipt came to the polls and voted for Mr. Roberts. I saw Mr.
Newton Roberts mark thetballots over six times myself. ' '
Many of the men mentioned here are white, and this
happened in a ward where there are more white than Ne
gro voters, but the same open bribery goes on at every
election in the slum districts of the Fourth, Fifth, Seventh
and Eighth Wards, where a large Negro vote is cast. In a
meeting of Negroes held in 1896 one politician calmly
announced that " through money from my white friends I
control the colored vote in my precinct." Another man
arose and denounced the speaker pretty plainly as a trick
ster although his allegation was not denied. This brought
on general discussion in which there were uncontradicted
statements that in certain sections votes were bought for
" fifty cents and a drink of whisky " and men " driven in
droves to the polls." There was some exaggeration here
and yet without doubt many Negroes sell their votes
directly for a money consideration. This sort of thing is
confined to the lowest classes, but there it is widespread.
Such bribery, however, is the least harmful kind because
it is so direct and shameless that only men of no character
would accept it.
Next to this direct purchase of votes, one of the chief
and most pernicious forms of bribery among the lowest
classes is through the establishment of political clubs,
which abound in the Fourth, Fifth, Seventh and Eighth
Wards, and are not uncommon elsewhere. A political club
is a band of eight or twelve men who rent a club house
with money furnished them by the boss, and support them
selves partially in the same way. The club is often named
after some politician one of the most notorious gambling
hells of the Seventh Ward is named after a United States
Senator and the business of the club is to see that its
precinct is carried for the proper candidate, to get "jobs"
for some of its "boys," to keep others from arrest and to
Sect. 53.] Some J3ad Results of Negro Suffrage. 379
secure bail and discharge for those arrested. Such clubs
become the centre of gambling, drunkenness, prostitution
and crime. Every night there are no less than fifteen of
these clubs in the Seventh Ward where open gambling goes
on, to which almost any one can gain admittance if properly
introduced ; nearly every day some redhanded criminal
finds refuge here from the law. Prostitutes are in easy
reach of these places and sometimes enter them. Liquor
is furnished to " members " at all times and the restrictions
on membership are slight. The leader of each club is boss
of his district ; he knows the people, knows the ward boss r
knows the police; so long as the loafers and gamblers
under him do not arouse the public too much he sees that
they are not molested. If they are arrested it does not
mean much save in grave cases. Men openly boast on the
streets that they can get bail for any amount. And cer
tainly they appear to have powerful friends at the Public
Buildings. There is of course a difference in the various
clubs ; some are of higher class than others and receive
offices as bribes ; others are openly devoted to gambling
and receive protection as a bribe ; one of the most notorious
gambling houses of the Seventh Ward was recently raided,
and although every school boy knows the character of the
proprietor he was released for " lack of evidence." Still
other clubs are simply winter quarters for thieves, loafers
and criminals well known to the police. There are of
course one or two clubs, mainly social and only partially
political, to which the foregoing statements do not apply
as for instance the Citizens' Club on Broad street, which
has the best Negroes of the city in its membership, allows
no gambling and pays its own expenses. This club,
however, stands almost alone and the other twelve or
fifteen political clubs of the Seventh Ward represent a
form of political corruption which is a disgrace to a
civilized city. In the Fourth, Fifth and Eighth Wards
there are ten or twelve more clubs, and probably in the
380 Negro Suffrage. [Chap. XVII.
whole city the Negroes have forty such places with a
possible membership of five or six hundred. The influence
of these clubs on the young immigrants, on growing boys,
on the surrounding working people is most deplorable. At
the polls they carry the day with high-handed and often
riotous proceedings, voting " repeaters " and " colonists "
often with impunity.
Among the great mass of Negro voters, whose votes
cannot be directly purchased, a less direct but, in the long
run, more demoralizing bribery is common. It is the same
sort of bribery as that which is to-day corrupting the white
voters of the land, viz :
(a) Contributions to various objects in which voters are
interested.
(b) Appointment to public office or to work of any kind
for the city.
Men accept from political organizations, contributions to
charitable and other objects which they would not think of
accepting for themselves. Others less scrupulous get con
tributions or favors for enterprises in which they are
directly interested. Fairs, societies, clubs and even
churches have profited by this sort of political corruption,
and the custom is by no means confined to Negroes.
A better known method of political bribery among the
mass of Negroes is through apportionment of the public
work or appointment to public office. The work open to
Negroes throughout the city is greatly restricted as has
been pointed out. One class of well-paid positions, the
city civil service, was once closed to them, and only one
road was open to them to secure these positions and that
was unquestioning obedience to the "machine." The
emoluments of office are a temptation to most men, but
how much greater they are for Negroes can only be realized
on reflection : Here is a well-educated young man, who
despite all efforts can get no work above that of porter
at $6 or $8 a week. If he goes into " politics," blindly
Sect. 53.] Some Bad Results of Negro Suffrage. 381
votes for the candidate of the party boss, and by hard r
steady and astute work persuades most of the colored
voters in his precinct to do the same, he has the chance of
being rewarded by a city clerkship, the social prestige of
being in a position above menial labor, and an income of
$60 or $75 a month. Such is the character of the grasp
which the " machine" has on even intelligent Negro
voters.
How far this sort of bribery goes is illustrated by the
fact that 170 city employes are from the Fifth Ward and
probably forty of these are Negroes. The three Negro
members of the machine in this ward are all office-holders.
About one-fourth of the fifty-two members of the Seventh
Ward machine are Negroes, and one-half of these are office
holders. The Negro's record as an office-seeker is, it is
needless to say, far surpassed by his white brother and it is
only in the last two decades that Negroes have appeared as
members of councils and clerks. 16
In spite of the methods employed to secure these offices
it cannot as yet justly be charged that many of the Negro
office-holders are unfitted for their duty. There is always
the possibility however that incompetent Negro officers
may increase in number; and there can be no doubt but
that corrupt and dishonest white politicians have been kept
in power by the influence thus obtained to sway the Negro
vote of the Seventh and Eighth and other wards. The
problem of the Negro voter then is one of the many prob
lems that baffle all efforts at political reform in Philadelphia :
the small corrupt vote of the slums which disgraces repub
lican government; the large vote of the masses which
mistaken political ideals, blind party loyalty and economic
stress now holds imprisoned and shackled to the service of
dishonest political leaders.
M Cf. "A Woman's Municipal Campaign." Publications of Amer. AcacL
of PoL and Soc. Science.
382 Negro Suffrage. [Chap. XVII.
54. Some Good Results of Negro Suffrage. It is
wrong to suppose that all the results of this hazardous
experiment in widening the franchise have been evil.
First the ballot has without doubt been a means of protec
tion in the hands of a people peculiarly liable to oppression.
Its first bestowal gained Negroes admittance to street-cars
after a struggle of a quarter century ; and frequently since
private and public oppression has been lightened by the
knowledge of the power of the black vote. This fact has
greatly increased the civic patriotism of the Negro, made
him strive more eagerly to adapt himself to the spirit
of the city life, and has kept him from becoming a socially
dangerous class.
At the same time the Negro has never sought to use his
ballot to menace civilization or even the established prin
ciples of this government This fact has been noticed by
many students but it deserves emphasis. Instead of being
radical light-headed followers of every new political pana
cea, the freedmen of Philadelphia and of the nation have
always formed the most conservative element in our politi
cal life and have steadfastly opposed the schemes of infla
tionists, socialists and dreamers. Part of this conservatism
may to be sure be the inertia of ignorance, but even such
inertia must anchor to some well-defined notions as to what
the present situation is ; and no element of our political
life seems better to comprehend the main lines of our
social organization than the Negro. In Philadelphia he
has usually been allied with the better elements although
too often that " better" was far from the best. And never
has the Negro been to any extent the ally of the worst
elements.
In spite of the fact that unworthy officials could easily
get into office by the political methods pursued by the
Negroes, the average of those who have obtained office has
been good. Of the three colored councilrnen one has re
ceived the endorsement of the Municipal League, while
Sect. 55.] The Paradox of Reform, 383
the others seem to be up to the average of the councilmen.
One Negro has been clerk In the tax office for twenty years
or more and has an enviable record. The colored police
men as a class are declared by their superiors to be capable,
neat and efficient. There are some cases of inefficiency
one clerk who used to be drunk most of his time, another
who devotes his time to work outside his office, and many
cases of inefficient watchmen and laborers. The average
of efficiency among colored officeholders however is good
and much higher than one might naturally expect
Finally, the training in citizenship which the exercise of
the right of suffrage entails has not been lost on the Phila
delphia Negro. Any worthy cause of municipal reform
can secure a respectable Negro vote in the city, showing
that there is the germ of an intelligent independent vote
which rises above even the blandishments of decent remu
nerative employment. This class is small but seems to be
growing.
55. The Paradox of Reform. The growth of a higher
political morality among Negroes is to-day hindered by
their paradoxical position. Suppose the Municipal League
or the Woman's School-board movement, or some other
reform is brought before the better class of Negroes to-day;
they will nearly all agree that city politics are notoriously
corrupt, that honest women should replace ward heelers on
school-boards, and the like. But can they vote for such
movements? Most of them will say No; for to do so will
throw many worthy Negroes out of employment: these
very reformers who want votes for specific reforms, will not
themselves work beside Negroes, or admit them to posi
tions in their stores or offices, or lend them friendly aid in
trouble. Moreover Negroes are proud of their councilmen
and policemen. What if some of these positions of honor
and respectability have been gained by shady "politics"
shall they be nicer in these matters than the mass of the
whites? Shall they surrender these tangible evidences of
384 Negro Suffrage. [Chap. XVII.
the rise of their race to forward the good-hearted but hardly
imperative demands of a crowd of women ? Especially,
too, of women who did not apparently know there were
any Negroes on earth until they wanted their votes? Such
logic may be faulty, but it is convincing to the mass of
Negro voters. And cause after cause may gain their re
spectful attention and even applause, but when election-
day comes, the " machine" gets their votes.
Thus the growth of broader political sentiment is hin
dered and will be until some change comes. When indus
trial exclusion is so broken down that no class will
be unduly tempted by the bribe of office ; when the apos
tles of civil reform compete within the ward Boss in
friendliness and kindly consideration for the unfortunate ;
when the league between gambling and crime and the city
authorities is less close, then we can expect the more rapid
development of civic virtue in the Negro and indeed in the
whole city. As it is to-day the experiment of Negro suf
frage with all its glaring shortcomings cannot justly be
called a failure, but rather in view of all circumstances a
partial success. Whatever it lacks can justly be charged
to those Philadelphians who for thirty years have surrend
ered their right of political leadership to thieves and trick
sters, and allowed such teachers to instruct this untutored
race in whose hand lay an unfamiliar instrument of civili
zation.
CHAPTER XVIII.
A FINAL WORD.
56* The Meaning of All This. Two sorts of answers
are usually returned to the bewildered American who asks
seriously : What is the Negro problem ? The one is
straightforward and clear: it is simply this, or simply
that, and one simple remedy long enough applied will in
time cause it to disappear. The other answer is apt to be
hopelessly involved and complex to indicate no simple
panacea, and to end in a somewhat hopeless There it is ;
what can we do ? Both of these sorts of answers have some
thing of truth in them : the Negro problem looked at in
one way is but the old world questions of ignorance,
poverty, crime, and the dislike of the stranger. On the
other hand it is a mistake to think that attacking each of
these questions single-handed without reference to the
others will settle the matter: a combination of social
problems is far more than a matter of mere addition, the
combination itself is a problem. Nevertheless the Negro
problems are not more hopelessly complex than many
others have been. Their elements despite their bewildering
complication can be kept clearly in view : they are after
all the same difficulties over which the world has grown
gray : the question as to how far human intelligence can
be trusted and trained; as to whether we must always
have the poor with us ; as to whether it is possible for the
mass of men to attain righteousness on earth ; and then to
this is added that question of questions : after all who are
Men ? Is every f eatherless biped to be counted a man and
brother? Are all races and types to be joint heirs of the
(335)
386 A Final Word. [Chap. XVIII.
new earth that men have striven to raise in thirty centuries
and more? Shall we not swamp civilization in barbar
ism and drown genius in indulgence if we seek a mythical
Humanity which shall shadow all men ? The answer of
the early centuries to this puzzle was clear : those of any
nation who can be called Men and endowed with rights are
few : they are the privileged classes the well-born and the
accidents of low birth called up by the King. The rest,
the mass of the nation, the pobel } the mob, are fit to follow,
to obey, to dig and delve, but not to think or rule or play
the gentleman. We who were born to another philosophy
hardly realize how deep-seated aud plausible this view of
human capabilities and powers once was ; how utterly in
comprehensible this republic would have been to Charle
magne or Charles V or Charles I. We rather hasten to
forget that once the courtiers of English kings looked upon
the ancestors of most Americans with far greater contempt
than these Americans look upon Negroes and perhaps,
indeed, had more cause. We forget that once French
peasants were the cc Niggers " of France, and that German
princelings once discussed with doubt the brains and
humanity of the bauer*
Much of this or at least some of it has passed and the
world has glided by blood and iron into a wider humanity,
a wider respect for simple manhood unadorned by ancestors
or privilege. Not that we have discovered, as some hoped
and. some feared, that all men were created free and equal,
but rather that the differences in men are not so vast as we
had assumed. We still yield the well-born the advantages
of birth, we still see that each nation has its dangerous
flock of fools and rascals ; but we also find most men have
brains to be cultivated and souls to be saved.
And still this widening of the idea of common Human
ity is of slow growth and to-day but dimly realized. We
grant full citizenship in the World Commonwealth to the
"Anglo-Saxon" (whatever that may mean), the Teuton
Sect 56.] The Meaning of All This. 387
and the Latin ; then with just a shade of reluctance we
extend it to the Celt and Slav. We half deny it to the yel
low races of Asia, admit the brown Indians to an ante-room
only on the strength of an undeniable past ; bnt with the
Negroes of Africa we come to a full stop, and in its heart
the civilized world with one accord denies that these come
within the pale of nineteenth-century Humanity. This
feeling, widespread and deep-seated, is, in America, the
vastest of the Negro problems ; we have, to be sure, a
threatening problem of ignorance but the ancestors of most
Americans were far more ignorant than the freedmen's
sons ; these ex-slaves are poor but not as poor as the Irish
peasants used to be ; crime is rampant but not more so,
if as much, as in Italy; but the difference is that the
ancestors of the English and the Irish and the Italians
were felt to be worth educating, helping and guiding
because they were men and brothers, while in America a
census which gives a slight indication of the utter disap
pearance of the American Negro from the earth is greeted
with ill-concealed delight.
Other centuries looking back upon the culture of the
nineteenth would have a right to suppose that if, in a land
of freemen, eight millions of human beings were found to
be dying of disease, the nation would cry with one voice,
" Heal them ! " If they were staggering on in ignorance, it
would cry, "Train them!" If they were harming themselves
and others by crime, it would cry, " Guide them !" And
such cries are heard and have been heard in the land ; but
it was not one voice and its volume has been ever broken
by counter-cries and echoes, " Let them die!" " Train them
like slaves !" " Let them stagger downward !"
This is the spirit that enters in and complicates all
Negro social problems and this is a problem which only
civilization and humanity can successfully solve. Mean
time we have the other problems before us we have the
problems arising from the uniting of so many social
388 A Final Word. [Chap. XVIII.
questions about one centre. In such a situation we need
only to avoid underestimating the difficulties on the one
hand and overestimating them on the other. The prob
lems are difficult, extremely difficult, but they are such as
the world has conquered before and can conquer again.
Moreover the battle involves more than a mere altruistic
interest in an alien people. It is a battle for humanity
and human culture. If in the hey-dey of the greatest of
the world's civilizations, it is possible for one people
ruthlessly to steal another, drag them helpless across the
water, enslave them, debauch them, and then slowly
murder them by economic and social exclusion until they
disappear from the face of the earth if the consumma
tion of such a crime be possible in the twentieth century,
then our civilization is vain and the republic is a mockery
and a farce.
But this will not be ; first, even with the terribly
adverse circumstances under which Negroes live, there is
not the slightest likelihood of their dying out ; a nation
that has endured the slave-trade, slavery, reconstruction,
and present prejudice three hundred years, and under it
increased in numbers and efficiency, is not in any immedi
ate danger of extinction. Nor is the thought of voluntary
or involuntary emigration more than a dream of men who
forget that there are half as many Negroes in the United
States as Spaniards in Spain. If this be so then a few
plain propositions may be laid down as axiomatic :
1. The Negro is here to stay.
2. It is to the advantage of all, both black and white,
that every Negro should make the best of himself.
3. It is the duty of the Negro to raise himself by every
effort to the standards of modern civilization and not to
lower those standards in any degree.
4. It is the duty of the white people to guard their civil
ization against debauchment by themselves or others ;
but in order to do this it is not necessary to hinder and
Sect 57,] The Duty of the Negroes. 389
retard the efforts of an earnest people to rise, simply
because they lack faith in the ability of that people.
5. With these duties in mind and with a spirit of self-
help, mutual aid and co-operation, the two races should
strive side by side to realize the ideals of the republic and
make this truly a land of equal opportunity for all men.
57. The Duty of the Negroes. That the Negro race
has an appalling work of social reform before it need hardly
be said. Simply because the ancestors of the present white
inhabitants of America went out of their way barbarously
to mistreat and enslave the ancestors of the present black
inhabitants gives those blacks no right to ask that the civil
ization and morality of the land be seriously menaced for
their benefit. Men have a right to demand that the mem
bers of a civilized community be civilized ; that the fabric
of human culture, so laboriously woven, be not wantonly or
ignorantly destroyed. Consequently a nation may rightly
demand, even of a people it has consciously and intention
ally wronged, not indeed complete civilization in thirty or
one hundred years, but at least every effort and sacrifice
possible on their part toward making themselves fit mem
bers of the community within a reasonable length of time;
that thus they may early become a source of strength and
help instead of a national burden. Modern society has
too many problems of its own, too much proper anxiety as
to its own ability to survive under its present organization,
for it lightly to shoulder all the burdens of a less advanced
people, and it can rightly demand that as far as possible
and as rapidly as possible the Negro bend his energy to the
solving of his own social problems contributing to his
poor, paying his share of the taxes and supporting the
schools and public administration. For the accomplish
ment of this the Negro has a right to demand freedom for
self-development, and no more aid from without than is
really helpful for furthering that development Such aid
must of necessity be considerable : it must furnish schools
39 o A Final Word. [Chap. XVIII.
and reformatories, and relief and preventive agencies ; but
the bulk of the work of raising the Negro must be done by
the Negro himself, and the greatest help for him will be
not to hinder and curtail and discourage his efforts.
Against prejudice, injustice and wrong the Negro ought to
protest energetically and continuously, but he must never
forget that he protests because those things hinder his own
efforts, and that those efforts are the key to his future.
And those efforts must be mighty and comprehensive,
persistent, well-aimed and tireless; satisfied with no partial
success, lulled to sleep by no colorless victories ; and, above
all, guided by no low selfish ideals ; at the same time they
must be tempered by common sense and rational expecta
tion. In Philadelphia those efforts should first be directed
toward a lessening of Negro crime ; no doubt the amount
of crime imputed to the race is exaggerated, no doubt
features of the Negro's environment over which he has no
control, excuse much that is committed ; but beyond all
this the amount of crime that can without doubt rightly be
laid at the door of the Philadelphia Negro is large and is a
menace to a civilized people. Efforts to stop this crime
must commence in the Negro homes ; they must cease to
be, as they often are, breeders of idleness and extravagance
and complaint Work, continuous and intensive; work,
although it be menial and poorly rewarded ; work, though
done in travail of soul and sweat of brow, must be so im
pressed upon Negro children as the road to salvation, that
a child would feel it a greater disgrace to be idle than to
do the humblest labor. The homely virtues of honesty,
truth and chastity must be instilled in the cradle, and
although it is hard to teach self-respect to a people whose
million fellow-citizens half-despise them, yet it must be
taught as the surest road to gain the respect of others.
It is right and proper that Negro boys and girls should
desire to rise as high in the world as their ability and just
desert entitle them. They should be ever encouraged and
Sect 57.] The Duty of the Negroes. 391
urged to do so, although they should be taught also that
Idleness and crime are beneath and not above the lowest
work. It should be the continual object of Negroes to
open up better industrial chances for their sons and daugh
ters. Their success here must of course rest largely with
the white people, but not entirely. Proper co-operation
among forty or fifty thousand colored people ought to
open many chances of employment for their sons and
daughters in trades, stores and shops, associations and
industrial enterprises.
Further, some rational means of amusement should be
furnished young folks. Prayer meetings and church
socials have their place, but they cannot compete in attrac
tiveness with the dance halls and gambling dens of the
city. There is a legitimate demand for amusement on the
part of the young which may be made a means of educa
tion, improvement and recreation. A harmless and beauti
ful amusement like dancing might with proper effort be
rescued from its low and unhealthful associations and
made a means of health and recreation. The billiard
table is no more wedded to the saloon than to the church
if good people did not drive it there. If the Negro homes
and churches cannot amuse their young people, and if no
other efforts are made to satisfy this want, then we cannot
complain if the saloons and clubs and bawdy houses send
these children to crime, disease and death.
There is a vast amount of preventive and rescue work
which the Negroes themselves might do : keeping little
girls off the street at night, stopping the escorting of
unchaperoned young ladies to church and elsewhere,
showing the dangers of the lodging system, urging the
buying of homes and removal from crowded and tainted
neighborhoods, giving lectures and tracts on health and
habits, exposing the dangers of gambling and policy-
playing, and inculcating respect for women. Day-nurseries
and sewing-schools, mothers 5 meetings, the parks and
393 A Final Word. [Chap. XVIII.
airing places, all these things are little known or appre
ciated among the masses of Negroes, and their attention
should be directed to them.
The spending of money is a matter to which Negroes
need to give especial attention. Money is wasted to-day
in dress, furniture, elaborate entertainments, costly church
edifices, and " insurance " schemes, which ought to go
toward buying homes, educating children, giving simple
healthful amusement to the young, and accumulating
something in the savings bank against a " rainy day." A
crusade for the savings bank as against the " insurance "
society ought to be started in the Seventh Ward without
delay.
Although directly after the war there was great and
remarkable enthusiasm for education, there is no doubt but
that this enthusiasm has fallen off, and there is to-day
much neglect of children among the Negroes, and failure
to send them regularly to school. This should be looked
into by the Negroes themselves and every effort made to
induce full regular attendance.
Above all, the better classes of the Negroes should
recognize their duty toward the masses. They should not
forget that the spirit of the twentieth century is to be the
turning of the high toward the lowly, the bending of
Humanity to all that is human ; the recognition that in
the slums of modern society lie the answers to most of our
puzzling problems of organization and life, and that only as
we solve those problems is our culture assured and our
progress certain. This the Negro is far from recognizing
for himself; his social evolution in cities like Philadel
phia is approaching a mediaeval stage when the centri
fugal forces of repulsion between social classes are be
coming more powerful than those of attraction. So hard
has been the rise of the better class of Negroes that
they fear to fall if now they stoop to lend a hand to
their fellows. This feeling is intensified by the blindness
Sect 58.] The Duty of the Whites. 393
of those outsiders who persist even now in confounding
the good and bad, the risen and fallen in one mass.
Nevertheless the Negro must learn the lesson that other
nations learned so laboriously and imperfectly, that his
better classes have their chief excuse for being in the
work they may do toward lifting the rabble. This is
especially true in a city like Philadelphia which has so
distinct and creditable a Negro aristocracy ; that they do
something already to grapple with these social problems
of their race is true, but they do not yet do nearly as much
as they must, nor do they clearly recognize their responsi
bility.
Finally, the Negroes must cultivate a spirit of calm,
patient persistence in their attitude toward their fellow
citizens rather than of loud and intemperate complaint,
A man may be wrong, and know he is wrong, and yet
some finesse must be used in telling him of it. The white
people of Philadelphia are perfectly conscious that their
Negro citizens are not treated fairly in all respects, but it
will not improve matters to call names or impute unworthy
motives to all men. Social reforms move slowly and yet
when Right is reinforced by calm but persistent Progress
we somehow all feel that in the end it must triumph.
58. The Duty of the Whites. There is a tendency on
the part of many white people to approach the Negro
question from the side which just now is of least pressing
importance, namely, that of the social intermingling of
races. The old query : Would you want your sister to
marry a Nigger? still stands as a grim sentinel to stop
much rational discussion. And yet few white women have
been pained by the addresses of black suitors, and these who
have easily got rid of them. The whole discussion is little
less than foolish ; perhaps a century from to-day we may
find ourselves seriously discussing such questions of social
policy, but it is certain that just as long as one group
deems it a serious mesalliance to marry with another just
394 A Final Word. [Chap. XVTIL
so long few marriages will take place, and it will need
neither law nor argument to guide human choice in such a
matter. Certainly the masses of whites would hardly
acknowledge that an active propaganda of repression was
necessary to ward off intermarriage. Natural pride of
race, strong on one side and growing on the other, may be
trusted to ward off such mingling as might in this stage of
development prove disastrous to both races. All this there
fore is a question of the far-off future.
To-day, however, we must face the fact that a natural
repugnance to close intermingling with unfortunate ex-
slaves has descended to a discrimination that very seriously
hinders them from being anything better. It is right and
proper to object to ignorance and consequently to ignorant
men ; but if by our actions we have been responsible for
their ignorance and are still actively engaged in keeping
them ignorant, the argument loses its moral force. So with
the Negroes : men have a right to object to a race so poor
and ignorant and inefficient as the mass of the Negroes ;
but if their policy in the past is parent of much of this
condition, and if to-day by shutting black boys and girls
out of most avenues of decent employment they are in
creasing pauperism and vice, then they must hold them
selves largely responsible for the deplorable results.
There is no doubt that in Philadelphia the centre and
kernel of the Negro problem so far as the white people are
concerned is the narrow opportunities afforded Negroes for
earning a decent living. Such discrimination is morally
wrong, politically dangerous, industrially wasteful, and
socially silly. It is the duty of the whites to stop it, and
to do so primarily for their own sakes. Industrial freedom
of opportunity has by long experience been proven to be
generally best for all. Moreover the cost of crime and
pauperism, the growth of slums, and the pernicious in
fluences of idleness and lewdness, cost the public far more
than would the hurt to the feelings of a carpenter to work
Sect 58.] The Duty of the Whites. 395
beside a black man, or a shop girl to stand beside a darker
mate. This does not contemplate the wholesale replacing
of white workmen for Negroes out of sympathy or philan
thropy ; it does mean that talent should be rewarded, and
aptness used in commerce and industry whether its owner
be black or white ; that the same incentive to good, honest,
effective work be placed before a black office boy as before
a white one before a black porter as before a white one ;
and that unless this is done the city has no right to com
plain that black boys lose interest in work and drift into
idleness and crime. Probably a change in public opinion
on this point to-morrow would not make very much
difference in the positions occupied by Negroes in the city :
some few would be promoted, some few would get new
places the mass would remain as they are ; but it would
make one vast difference : it would inspire the young to
try harder, it would stimulate the idle and discouraged and
it would take away from this race the omnipresent excuse
for failure : prejudice. Such a moral change would work
a revolution in the criminal rate during the next ten years.
Even a Negro bootblack could black boots better if he
knew he was a menial not because he was a Negro but
because he was best fitted for that work.
We need then a radical change in public opinion on this
point ; it will not and ought not to come suddenly, but
instead of thoughtless acquiescence in the continual and
steadily encroaching exclusion of Negroes from work in
the city, the leaders of industry and opinion ought to be
trying liere and there to open up new opportunities and
give new chances to bright colored boys. The policy of
the city to-day simply drives out the best class of young
people whom its schools have educated and social oppor
tunities trained, and fills their places with idle and vicious
immigrants. It is a paradox of the times that young mem
and women from some of the best Negro families of the
city families born and reared here and schooled in the
396 A final Word. [Chap. XVIIL
best traditions of tins municipility have actually had to go
to the South to get work, if they wished to be aught but
chambermaids and bootblacks. Not that such work may
not be honorable and useful, but that it is as wrong to
make scullions of engineers as it is to make engineers of
scullions. Such a situation is a disgrace to the city a
disgrace to its Christianity, to its spirit of justice, to its
common sense ; what can be the end of such a policy but
increased crime and increased excuse for crime ? Increased
poverty and more reason to be poor ? Increased political
serfdom of the mass of black voters to the bosses and
rascals who divide the spoils? Surely here lies the first
duty of a civilized city.
Secondly, in their efforts for the uplifting of the Negro
the people of Philadelphia must recognize the existence of
the better class of Negroes and must gain their active aid
?nd co-operation by generous and polite conduct Social
sympathy must exist between what is best in both races and
there must no longer be the feeling that the Negro who
makes the best of himself is of least account to the city
of Philadelphia, while the vagabond is to be helped and
pitied. This better class of Negro does not want help or
pity, but it does want a generous recognition of its diffi
culties, and a broad sympathy with the problem of life as
it presents itself to them. It is composed of men and
women educated and in many cases cultured ; with proper
co-operation they could be a vast power in the city, and the
only power that could successfully cope with many phases
of the Negro problems. But their active aid cannot be
gained for purely selfish motives, or kept by churlish
and ungentle manners ; and above all they object to being
patronized.
Again, the white people of the city must remember that
much of the sorrow and bitterness that surrounds the life
of the American Negro comes from the unconscious preju
dice and half-conscious actions of men and women who do
Sect. 58.] The Duty of the Whites. 397
not intend to wound or annoy. One is not compelled to
discuss the Negro question with every Negro one meets or
to tell him of a father who was connected with the Under
ground Railroad; one is not compelled to stare at the
solitary black face in the audience as though it were not
human ; it is not necessary to sneer, or be unkind or boor
ish, if the Negroes in the room or on the street are not all
the best behaved or have not the most elegant manners ; it
is hardly necessary to strike from the dwindling list of
one's boyhood and girlhood acquaintances or school-day
friends all those who happen to have Negro blood, simply
because one has not the courage now to greet them on the
street. The little decencies of daily intercourse can go
on, the courtesies of life be exchanged even across the
color line without any danger to the supremacy of the
Anglo-Saxon or the social ambition of the Negro. With
out doubt social differences are facts not fancies and can
not lightly be swept aside ; but they hardly need to be
looked upon as excuses for downright meanness and
incivility.
A polite and sympathetic attitude toward these striving
thousands; a delicate avoidance of that which wounds and
embitters them ; a generous granting of opportunity to
them ; a seconding of their efforts, and a desire to reward
honest success all this, added to proper striving on their
part, will go far even in our day toward making all men,
white and black, realize what the great founder of the
city meant when he named it the City of Brotherly ZrOve.
APPENDICES.
(399)
400
Appendix A.
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1
Relationship to head of family ? . . .
Sex?
Age at nearest birthday ?
Conjugal condition?
Place of birth?
I/ength of residence in Philadelphia
length of residence in this house ?
Able to read?
Able to write ?
Months in school during last school 3
Graduate or attendant at any time oi
Attendant of any industrial school ?
Occupations since December i, 1891 ?
Average income from present occupa
Weeks unemployed at above occupat
Weeks employed at any other occupa
Name of such other occupation ? . .
Average weekly earnings at such oth
Number of days ick during last twe
Nature of illness?
Sound and healthy In mind, sight, h
When and where have attempts been
Why was application refused? , . .
WMTO *$ jjgwjjos 5.
22^sss>?nre
Schedules.
401
JX
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3
; Amount of real estate owned ?
Situation of such real estate?
Amount of other property?
Memberof what building, secret, bene
Average monthly dues to such societiej
Budget:
Total income of family from all source
Expenditure for one year?
Expenditure for
n j
Total expenditure for one year ?
Total savings for one year?
Chief form of amusement ?
Member or attendant of what church ?
Non-resident members of family?
Occupation and address of same ?
Remarks
4O2 Appendix A.
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
INVESTIGATION INTO THE CONDITION OF THE NEGROES OF
PHILADELPHIA.
Instructions for Family Schedule.
A family schedule must be made out for every group
of two or more related persons living under conditions of
family life. Boarders, lodgers and servants, are to be
entered on separate individual schedules. Hotels, etc.,
should be entered on an institution schedule, and the in
mates on family and individual schedules.
Question I. Enter here the number of persons in the family, exclusive
of lodgers, boarders, visitors or servants.
Question 2. Facts for the head of the family should be entered in the
first column, and he or she should be designated as Head, whether
man, woman, married or single. Give the other members the term
which will indicate their relation to the head; as wife, son, daughter,
sister, etc, or mother (z. e. mother of head of family), etc.
uestion 3. Abbreviate to M. (male), or F, (female),
uestion 4. Give exact years, as, 17, 29, 31, 43, etc., and do not say
" about" 25,30,35,40. Enter children less than one year old on
the ist of December, in twelfths of a month, as 6-12, 3-12, etc.; or if
not one month old, as 0-12.
Questions. Enter as married (mar.), single (sing.), widowed (wid.).
and separated (sep.).
Question 6. Give State and town.
Questions 7 and 8. Give approximate number of years.
Question n. This refers to the children of the family.
Questions 12 and 13. Write " Graduate Girls' High, '96 "; or "Attend
ant Institute for Colored Youth, 3 yrs.," etc. Schools higher than
common schools are here referred to. Answer this for all members
of the family.
Questions 14 and 15. This is an important inquiry. _ Simple as it appears,
it is always difficult in census work to get satisfactory replies to this
question. Inaccuracy and insufficiency of statement are the most
prominent evils to be avoided:
For instance, remember: we want to know not what a man " works in,"
but just what he does.
We want to distinguish between : the owner or director of a business
and one who works at it; between waiters and head- waiters; between
cooks in private families and in hotels; between coachmen, hackmen,
and draymen ; between merchants and pedlars, and those who keep
stands.
Do not say:
' * Printer, ' ' but c ' compositor, ' ' or " pressman ;" not 4 ' mechanic, ' '
but " carpenter " or " plumber;" not "agent/* but "real-estate
agent;" not "merchant" or "pedlar," but " dry-goods merchant "
or "pedlar tinware"; not "clerk" but "salesman in hardware-
store," "stenographer," "bookkeeper," etc.
Schedules. 403
Describe women who keep house at home as "housewives;" those
who keep house for others as "housekeepers." If the woman does
her own housework, and in addition pursues a gainful occupation, as
dressmaking, enter: "housewife dressmaker, " or "housewife
day 's- work-out. ' J
Daughters, etc., who help with housework, should be entered:
" housework no pay." Those who do nothing should be entered
as " no occupation." Children, too young to have an occupation,
should be entered ** at home," or "at school."
Question 17. Answer only one of these preferably one of the first two.
Seek to approximate the truth as nearly as possible.
Question 22. This refers to sickness that was severe enough to interfere
seriously with daily work.
Question 25. Give the name of the disease or ailment.
Question 25. Give dates as nearly as possible, and addresses.
Question 26. Enter either the reason given or the reason surmised, or
both.
Question 28. Give street and number.
Question 30. Give names of societies.
Question 3?. This question is optional, and is onlv for those who are able
to give their expenditure in some detail. Fill only one of the three
columns for each particular item (f. g~ rent y early t food weekly, etc.)
and seek by reference to written accounts to make this report accu
rate. Remember that income^ expenditure and savings must balance.
Question 33. Bnter this under one of the following heads: A. Athlet
ics (bicycling, baseball, etc, ) . B. Music. C. Church entertainments,
D. Indoor games (cards, billiards, etc.). K. Balls. P. House-
parties. G. Picnics and excursions. H. Theatres.
Remember to enter here the actual chief amusement, not merely the
one the person likes best, but does not often enjoy.
Question 35. Give relationship to head of family.
Where the question only applies to certain members of
the family, put a cross in the spaces where there are no
answers expected. Where no information Is given, put
"unknown," or "unanswered."
Finally, remember that the information given is confi
dential ; the University of Pennsylvania will strictly guard
it as such, and allow no one to have access to the schedules
for other than scientific purposes. We ask, under these
conditions, careful, accurate, and truthful answers.
404
Appendix A.
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
CONDITION OF THE NEGROES OF PHILADELPHIA, WARD SEVEN.
Individual Schedule, 2.
I
Relationship to head of family ?
2
Sex ? .
7
Age at nearest birthday ?
4
Conjugal condition ?
C
Place of birth ?
fi
Length of residence in Philadelphia >*
7
Length of residence in this house?
8
Able to read ?
Able to write ?
10
ii
Months in school during last school year ? . ...
Graduate or attendant at any time of any higher
school ? . .
12
Attendant of any industrial school ?
I-i
Occupations since November i, 1891 ?
IA
Present occupation * . . .
JC
Place of work ? . . .
16
17
( weekly ?
Average income from present occupation monthly ?
( yearly ?
Weeks unemployed at above occupation during last
twelve months ? ... ,
18
Weeks employed at auy other occupation during last
twelve months ?
19
20
21
2*>
Name of such other occupation ? . . . . ...
Average weekly earnings at such other occupation ? .
Number of days sick during last twelve months ?
Nature of illness ? . .
23
Sound and healthy in mind, sight, hearing, speech,
limbs and body ? . . . . . .
24
"^hen and where have attempts been made to find
other employment ?
2^
Why was application refused ? ...
76
Amount of real estate owned ?
27
Situation of such real estate ? . . .
?8
Amount of other property ?
29
Member of what building, secret, beneficial or insu
rance societies, or labor union ?
30
Average monthly dues to such societies ?.'...
31
Budget:
Total income for one year ?
Expenditure for one year ?
Expenditure for i Wkly. Monthly. Yearly. Ea^>enditure for
Wkly. Monthly. Yearly.
Rent ....... j ' Amusements
!
Hood ' Tobacco
j
Fuel - 1 Alcoholic 'drinks
I
Clothing .... j Sick's and dt'h.
All _ other ptir-
1 poses ....
i
Total expenditure for one year?
Total savings for one year ?
32
33
34
Chief form of amusement ?
Member or attendant of what church ?
Remarks.
See Instructions for Family Schedule, i.
Schedules.
405
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
CONDITION OF THE NEGROES OF PHII*ADEI,PHIA, WARD SEVEN.
Home Schedule, j.
DKCKW-RWW Tj T*^, TSI O
Investigator.
I
2
3
4
6
I
9
10
ii
12
13
14
15
16
19
20
21
22
24
25
26
27
28
29
Material of house?
Stories in house above basement ?
Number of homes in house ? . .
In which story is this home *
Number of rooms in this "home ? ,
Is this home rented directly of the
Number of boarders in this home
Number of lodgers in this home ?
Number of servants kept ? . . .
Total number of persons in this ho
House owned by . .
; landlord ? . . . .
?
TTif * .
Rent paid monthly ? . . .
Rent received from snb-letting ?
"Rath-room ? , , . . . T .
Water-closet ? ...
Privy ? ...
Yard, and size ?
^Where is washing hung to dry ? .
Light?
Ventilation and air ? ,
Cleanliness? . . .......
Outside sanitary conditions ? . .
THE HOME.
Room
No. i.
Room
No. 2.
Room
No. 3,
Room Room Room
No. 4. No, 5. No. 6.
Use?
Furniture ?...........
Additional rooms ?
When and where have you had difficulty in renting houses ?
406 Appendix A.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR HOME SCHBDUI/B.
Kvery structure in which persons Kve is a dwelling for the purposes of
this investigation, whether wholly so occupied or not. In each dwelling
there will be one or more homes; for each such home a Home Schedule
must be made out, and at its top the schedule number of the correspond
ing family or individual inserted.
Question 4. If it occupies the house, put * ' whole house. ' '
Questions 14, 15, 16, 17, Answer Yes or No. Note whether these facili
ties are used by one or more homes ?
euestions 19, 20, 21, 22. Answer excellent ^ good, fair or bad.
uestion 26. This refers primarily to the living room. Note the presence
of the following articles: piano, organ, parlor-suit, sewing-machine,
bookshelves, couch, centre-table, rocking-chair, etc.
Schedules.
407
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
CONDITION OF THE NEGROES OF PHH^LDKI,PHIA, WARD SEVEN.
House Servant Schedule^ 4.
DB<
"EMBER 1, Tfyfi. NO, , ,.
Investigator
I
2
3
4
6
8
9
10
ii
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
Street and number? .
Occupation of employer? ,
Sex?
Age at nearest birthday ^ - T .... . , ,
Conjugal condition?
Any home in the fity ^ ....
Address of same * .
Place of birth. ? . . ....
Number of days sick in last twelve months? ....
Able to read ^ ......
Able to write * ....
Graduate or attendant at any time of any higher
Occupations since Novenub^ 1 * i T 8QT ^ r .....
Present occupation ?
X/ength of service here ^. .............
Who besides yourself is supported by your wages ? .
How much is given for this purpose weekly ? . . . .
When and where have you attempted to get other
Why was application refused ^
What is your chief amusement?
Budget:
Total income for one year:
Expenditure for i Wkly. -Monthly. Yearly. Expenditure for
Wkly. Monthly. Yea*
Clothing . . . Sickness. . . .
Amusement . . Draes to Societies
I*odging . . 1 All other pur-
j Poses
Total expense for one year?
Total savings?
Amount of property owned?
For Instructions, see Family Schedule, i.
408 Appendix A.
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
CONDITION OF THE NBGROKS OF PHILADELPHIA, WARD SBVHN.
Street Schedule, 5. Street > between Streets.
DECEMBER i, 1896. No Investigator.
I
2
3
4
6
8
9
10
ii
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
*9
20
21
22
General Character?
Width? '
Paved with ?
Street-car line ?
Character of houses ?
Stories in houses? . .
Material of houses ? ...
Proportion occupied as dwellings? .
Proportion of Whites to Blacks ?
Nationality of Whiter ?
Nationality of White-
Cleanliness of street? ,
Width of sidewalks ? .
Lighted by ?
Hydrants?
Schools? .
Churches?
Saloons ?
Pool-rooms? . ., . . .
Public institutions ?
Public conveniences ? .
Shops? ,
Remarks? ......
Schedules. 409
INSTRUCTIONS FOR STREET SCHEDULE.
A ** street " in this Schedule is meant to designate not necessarily tr
whole street which bears one name as Ix>mbard from river to river but
rather such parts of streets as have a common character; thus four or five
Schedules would be necessary for the distinctive parts of Ix>mbard Street,
two for Juniper, several for Pine, one for Wetherill.
i. Characterize the street concisely; as, "respectable residence
street," or 4< blind alley with tumble-down brick houses. >r
4. Answer by Yes or JVo.
5. Note whether the houses are dwellings, stables, etc, , respectable,
suspicious, etc.
8. Estimate carefully; as one-third dwellings, or one-half back
yards, etc.
9 and 10. Ask a policeman, or one or two of the persons dwelling
there. Do not depend on your own observation, unless it
extends over some time.
ii. Answer by excellent, good^/air, or bad.
14. Give number.
15. Give names.
1 6. Give number, names and denomination.
17 and 1 8. Give number.
19. This includes hospitals, clubs, missions, manufactories. Note
clubs of all sorts carefully, and ascertain their character if
possible. Bnter all these institutions bv name.
20. This refers to public water-closets, baths, unnals, and lavatories.
21. Give approximate distribution and character of shojjs.
22. Make here any concise statement that will throw light on the
street and its inhabitants.
410
Appendix A.
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
CONDITION or THE NEGROES OF PHILADELPHIA, WARD SEVEN.
Institution Schedule, 6.
DECEMBER i, 1896.
No._
Investigator.
I
2
3
4
5
6
S
9
10
n
12
13
14
15
16
Name? ... .
Street and number ?
Character?
Proprietors?
Number of members or partners? .
Amount of capital invested ? . . .
Real estate owned ?
Value of same ?
Taxes paid last year on same ? . . .
Value of other property ?
Income last twelve months ? . . .
Source of said income ?
Expenditures last twelve months ? .
Objects of expenditures ?..,..
History ?
Description and remarks:
INSTRUCTIONS FOR INSTITUTION SCHEDULE.
This includes all institutions conducted by Negroes wholly or partially,
or wholly or partially in the interest of the Negroes; as, e. g., churches,
missions, clubs, shops, stands, stores, agencies, societies, associations,
halls, newspapers, etc.
Find out the object of the enterprise (philanthropic, social, business,
etc. ), the capital invested, the property owned, taxes paid, income for
past twelve months, character and amount of expenditure, sort of quar
ters occupied, and persons connected, etc., aiming, in all cases, to collect
essential facts.
Especially try and find out whether the enterprise is that of one per
son, of a partnership, or is a co-operative enterprise among a large num
ber. If in any degree co-operative, bring out the extent, character and
objects of the co-operation.
APPENDIX B.
LEGISLATION, ETC., OF PENNSYLVANIA IN REGARD TO
THE NEGRO.
1682. Negro Serfdom Recognized. The charter of the Free
Society of Traders of Pennsylvania recognizes the slavery of
Blacks. Slaves were to be freed after fourteen years of service,
upon condition that they cultivate land allotted to them, and
surrender two- thirds of the produce annually. Hazard's 'Xn-
nalsT(Ed. 1850), 553.
1693, July IX - Tumults of Slaves. Action of City Council
of Philadelphia against tumults by slaves. Penna. CoL Rec.,
I, 380-81.
1700. Slave Marriages. Penn proposes a bill regulating
slave marriages; bill is lost in Council. Bettle, 368; Thomas,
266.
1700, November 27. Trial of Slaves. "An Act for the
Trial of Negroes." Introduced by Penn. This act provided
that Negroes accused of high crime should be tried by two
justices of the peace and six freeholders; rape of white women
to be punished by death, and attempts by castration; Negroes
were not to carry arms without special license; over four Ne
groes meeting together on Sundays or other days 4 ' upon no
lawful business of their masters or owners " were to be whipped.
Statutes- at-Large, ch. 56. (Disallowed January 7, 1706.)
1700, November 27. Traffic with Slaves. '* An Act for the
Better Regulation of Servants in this Province and Territories*"
Traffic with slaves forbidden, among other things. Statutes-
at- Large, ch. 49.
1700, November 27. Duty on Slaves. "An Act for Grant
ing an Impost upon Wines, Rum, Beer, Ale, Cider, etc, , Im
ported, Retorted and Sold in this Province and Territories.'*
2. . . . "for every Negro, male or female, imported, if
above sixteen years of age, twenty shillings; for every Negro
under the age of sixteen, six shillings. Statutes-at-Large,
ch. 85.
4*2 Appendix B.
1706, January 12. Duty on Slaves. "An Act for Raising a
Supply " Imported Negroes, except those who
lived at least two years in Jersey, 405. (or IO.T. ?) per head.
Statutes-at-Large, ch. 164.
1706, January 12. Trial of Negroes. "An Act for the Trial
of Negroes." Practically the same as the Act of 1700; attempt
to rape and robbery of 5 or more, punished by branding and
exportation. Statutes-at-Large, ch. 143. (Repealed by Act of
1780, q. v.)
1708. Protest to Legislature. Protest of Mechanics against
hiring out of Negroes. Scharf-Wescott : "History of Phila
delphia" I, 200.
1710, December 28. Duty Ad. " An Impost Act, laying a
Duty on Negroes. . . ." 40$. on Negroes imported.
Carey and Bioren, I, 82.
1711, February 28. Duty Ad. " An Impost Act, laying a
Duty on Negroes. . . , M 40?. on Negroes not imported for
importers own use. Statutes-at-Large, ch. 181. (Disallowed
20 February, 1714.)
1712, Petition for Emancipation. Petition of Southeby for
Abolition of Slavery. DuBois^Slave Trade? p. 22.
1712. Negro Plot. Negro plot in New York. Ibid.
1712, June n. Duty Ad. " A Supplementary Act to. . ."
the Act of 1810. Carey and Bioren, I, 87-88. (Disallowed
in 1713.)
1712, June 7. Prohibitory Duty Ad. " An Act to Prevent
the Importation of Negroes and Indians into this Province. "
20 prohibitory duty laid on slaves imported, because of
their plots and insurrections. Statutes-at-Large, ch. 192. Cf.
DuBois^Slave Trade" p. 22. (Disallowed 1713.)
1713. Assiento Treaty. Contract for importing slaves into
Spanish West Indies signed by Great Britain. DuBois' u Slave
Trade" pp. 207-9.
1715, May 28. Duty Ad. " An Act for Laying a Duty on
Negroes Imported into this Province/' ^5 duty ; slaves of
immigrants not to be sold for a year. Statutes-at-Large, III,
121. (Disallowed 21 July, 1719.)
1718, February 22. Duty Ad. l * An Act for Continuing a
Duty on Negroes. . . ." ^5 duty; slaves of immigrants
not to be sold for 16 months. Statutes-at-Large, III, 164.
Legislation, etc. 413
1721, February 24. Duty Act. "An Act for Continuing
several Acts. . . . Act of 1718 continued. Statutes-at
Large, III, 238.
1721, August 2 1 . Traffic with Negroes. * ' A Supplementary
Act to a Law. . . ." On Public Houses. No liquors to
be sold Negroes or Indians without leave. Statutes-at-Large
III, 250.
1721, August 26. Police Regulation. "An Act for Pre
venting Accidents that May Happen by Fire." Slaves shoot
ing squibs or guns in Philadelphia without license to be
whipped. -Statutes-at-Large, III, 254.
1722, May 12. Duty Act. " An Act for Laying a Duty on
Negroes. . . ." $ duty, as in 1718. Statutes-at- Large,
HI, 275.
1722. Petition of White Laborers. Laborers petition Gen
eral Assembly against employment of Blacks. Assembly
resolves: That the principle is dangerous and injurious to the
republic and not to be sanctioned. ^Watson's Annals,"!, 98.
1726, March 5. Duty Ad. " An Act for Laying a Duty
on Negroes. . . ." Act of 1722 continued from 1726 to
1729. Statutes-at-Large, IV, 52.
1726, March 26. Status of Negroes Defined. " An Act
for the Better Regulation of Negroes in this Province/*
1 'Whereas, it often happens that Negroes commit felonies
and other heinous crimes, which by the laws of this Province
are punishable by death, but the loss of such cases falling
wholly on the owner, is so great a hardship that sometimes
may induce him to conceal such crimes, or convey his Negro
to some other place and so suffer him to escape justice to the
ill example of others to commit like offences,
" Beit resolved, etc., That Negroes convicted of capital crime
be valued and paid for out of money collected as duty on their
importation,** .
III. c * Whereas, free Negroes are an idle and slothful peo
ple and often prove burdensome to the neighborhood and
afford ill examples to other Negroes. Therefore, Be it enacted
that if any master or mistress shall discharge or set free any
Negro, he or she shall enter into recognizance with sufficient
securities in the sum of ^30 to indemnify the county for any
charge or mcumbrance they may bring upon the same in case
4*4 Appendix B.
such Negro, through sickness or otherwise, be rendered incap
able of self-sup port. "
In case of freedom by will, the executor or administrator
was required to give the bond, or such slaves should not be
regarded as free.
Any Negro becoming free under age 21 might be bound to
service until of age.
The Act further provided penalties for the harboring of
Negroes by each other; for trading or dealing with each other
without license all on pain of being sold into slavery if unable
to pay fine; also provided penalty of 100 for anybody who
should marry a Negro and white person; ^"30 for Negro
caught living in marriage relation with white person, in such
cases Negro to be sold into slavery for life.
XI of Act prohibited masters, etc., from allowing Negro
slaves to hire their own time.
One section also imposed a duty of ^10 on imported
slaves. - Statutes-at-Large, IV, 59.
1729, May 10. Duty Ad. lt An Act for paying a Duty on
Negroes Imported into this Province. 1 ' 2 duty. Statutes-
at-Large, IV, 128.
1732, April 17. Slave Tumults. Philadelphia Council order
Ordinance drawn to prevent tumults of slaves on Sundays.
"Watson's Annals',' I, 62.
1738, July 3. Stove Tumults. Draft of Ordinance to sup
press tumults of slaves considered in Philadelphia City Coun
cil./^., I, 62.
1741, August 17. Tumults of Negroes. Order made by
Philadelphia City Councils to suppress disorders of Negroes
and others on court house square at night. Watson's Annals',"
It 62-63.
1761, March 14. Duty Act. " An Act for paying a Duty on
Negro and Mulatto Slaves imported into this province." ^10
duty? Continued in 1768; repealed in 1780. Carey and Bioren,
I. 37i, 451-
1761, April 22. Duty Ad. " A Supplement to. . . . "
the Act of 1761. Ibid., 371, 451.
1768, February 20. Duty Act. Acts of 1761 re-enacted.
Dallas, I, 490.
1773, February 26. Duty Ad. "An Act for Making
Legislation, etc. 415
Perpetual the Act. . . . " of 1761. Additional ^10 duty
provided for. Dallas, I, 671.
1775. Bill on Importation. Bill to prohibit importation or
slaves vetoed by Governor. Bettle.
1778, September 7. Recovery of Duties. " An Act for the
Recovery of the Duties on Negro and Mulatto Slaves. . . . "
Dallas, I, 782.
1779, February 5. Plan of Emancipation. Supreme Ex
ecutive Council recommends a plan of gradual emancipation to
Assembly.
1780, March i. Slavery Abolished. " An Act for the Grad
ual Abolition of Slavery."
1,2. General condemnation of slavery.
3. No child born hereafter in Pennsylvania to be a slave.
4. Children of slaves born hereafter to be bound to service
until twenty-eight years of age.
5. All slaves to be registered.
7. Negroes to be tried for crime like other inhabitants.
10. None to be slaves except those registered.
14. Acts of 1725, 1761 and 1773 repealed. Carey and
Bioren, ch. 88 1.
1786. Petition for Potter's Field. Petition of Philadelphia
Negroes to Council for leave to enclose Potter's Field as a
Negro burial ground. Penna. Col. Rec.,,XIV, 637.
1788, March 29. Ad of 1780 Amended. ** An Act to Ex
plain and Amend an Act Entitled ' An Act for the Gradual
Abolition of Slavery.' "
2. Slaves of immigrants to be free.
3. Slaves not to be removed from without their consent
given before two justices.
4. Persons possessed of children liable to serve till twenty-
eight years old must register them.
5. Slave trading forbidden under penalty and forfeiture.
6. Slaves serving for a term of years not to be separated
from parents. Carey and Bioren, ch. 394.
1790, September 2. Negro Suffrage. Constitution of Penn
sylvania. Art. Ill, Sec. i . In elections by the citizens, every
freeman of the age of twenty- one years, having resided in the
State two years^ next before the election, and within that time
paid a State or county tax, which shall have been assessed at
416 Appendix B,
least six months before the election, shall enjoy the rights of
an elector. Purdon' /Digest" 6th ed.
1793, April ii. Duty on Slaves. " An Act to Establish a
Board of Wardens for the Port of Philadelphia, . .
22. Of passengers entering port only slaves to pay head
money. Carey andBioren, ch. 178.
1800, Petition to Congress. Petition of Negroes to Legisla
te and Congress against slave-trade. DuBois^Slave Trade,"
! 3i-8 3 .
1821, April. Ad vs. Pauperism. "An Act to Prevent the
Increase of Pauperism in the Commonwealth."
i. If any black indentured servant over twenty-eight
years of age is brought into the State, his master is liable for his
charge if he becomes a pauper. Laws of Penna., 1821.
1826, March 25. Act vs. Kidnapping. " An Act to Give
Effect to the Provisions of the Constitution of the United States,
Relative to Fugitives from Labor, for the Protection of the Free
People of Color, and to prevent Kidnapping."
i. Fine of $5oo-$2oco and imprisonment seven to twenty-
one years for kidnapping.
2. Aiding and abetting punished.
3~6- Claimed fugitives to be arrested on warrant and taken
before a judge. Oath of alleged owner or of interested per
sons not received as evidence. Laws of Penna., 1826. Cf.
Prigg vs. Penna., 16 Peters, 500, U. S. Reports.
1827, April 17. Sales of Fugitives. "An Act to Prevent
Certain Abuses of the Laws Relative to Fugitives from Labor. "
No sales of fugitive slaves to be made in the State of Pennsyl
vania. Laws of Penna., 1827.
1832. Restriction on Immigration. Bill in Legislature to
make free Negroes carry passes. Cf., p. 27.
1837, July- Negro Suffrage. Pennsylvania Supreme Court
at Sunbury ; case of Hobbs et aL vs. Fogg. Judgment of Com
mon Pleas Court reversed and Negro declared not a " free
man " in the meaning of Constitution. Penna. Reports, 6
Watts, 553-6*
1838. Negro Suffrage. Revised Constitution of Pennsyl
vania, Art. Ill, Sec. i. "In elections by the citizens, every
white freeman of the age of twenty-one years, having resided
in this State one year, and in the election district where he
Legislation, etc. 417
offers to vote ten days immediately preceding such election, and
within two years paid a State or county tax, which shall have
been assessed at least ten days before the election, shall enjoy
the right of an elector/ ' PurdonVDigest^Sixth Ed.
1854, ^ a 7 & "An Act for the Regulation and Continuance
of a System of Education by Common Schools/*
The Controllers and Directors of the several school districts
of the State are hereby authorized and required to establish
within their respective districts separate schools for Negro and
Mulatto children wherever such schools can be located so as to
accommodate twenty or more pupils; and wherever such
schools shall be established and kept open four months in
every year the Directors and Controllers shall not be compelled
to admit such pupils into any other schools of the district.
Laws of Penna., 1854.
1863, March 6. Immigration. Petition against immigration
of freedmen to Pennsylvania denied by Senate committee of
legislature. Pamphlet, Phila. Library.
1867. Separate Seats in Cars. Pennsylvania Supreme
Court; case of West Chester and Philadelphia Co. vs. Miles.
Held that separation of Negroes to assigned seats for good
order is not illegal on railways, etc. Penna. Reports, 5 Smith,
209.
1867, March 22. Civil Rights. Negroes to have same rights
on railway carsas white citizens, Brightley's Purdon, Eleventh
Ed., 1436.
1870, April 6. Negro Suffrage. 10 of Act says : " That
so much of every Act of Assembly as provides that only white
freemen shall be entitled to vote or to register as voters, or as
claiming to vote, at any general or special election in this
Commonwealth, be and the same is hereby repealed ; and that
hereafter all freemen, without distinction of color, shall be en
rolled and registered according to the provisions of the act ap
proved April 17, 1869.*' Laws of Penna., 1870.
1874. Negro Suffrage. New Constitution removes restric
tions as to color.
1 874, April 10. Civil Rights. Pennsylvania Supreme Court;
case of Drew vs. Peer. Damages given Negroes for ejectment
from a theatre. 12 Norris, 234,
1878, March 15. Civil Rights. Pennsylvania Supreme
4i 8 Appendix B.
Court; case of Central Railroad of New Jersey vs. Green and
wife. Damages granted for compelling Negroes to go from one
car to another on railway. Penna. Reports, 5 Norris, 421, 427.
1 88 1, June 8. Mixed Schools. i. It shall be unlawful for
any school director, superintendent, or teacher to make any
distinction whatever on account of, or by reason of, the race or
color of any pupil or scholar who may be in attendance upon
or seeking admission to any public or common school main
tained wholly or in part under the school laws of the common
wealth. Brightley's Purdon, Bleventh ed., p. 292.
1887, May 19. Civil Rights. "An Act to Provide Civil
Rights for all People, Regardless of Race or Color, " <v i. Be it
enacted, etc., that any person, company, corporation, being
owner, lessee or manager of any restaurant, hotel, railroad,
street railway, omnibus line, theatre, concert hall or place of
entertainment or amusement, who shall refuse to accommodate,
convey or admit any person or persons on account of race or
color over their lines or into their hotel or restaurant, theatre, con
cert hall or place of amusement, shall upon conviction thereof
be guilty of a misdemeanor and be punished by a fine of not
less than fifty or more than one hundred dollars." I/aws of
Penna., 1887, pp. 130-31.
1895, July 2. Life Insurance. 1,1 fe insurance companies are
not allowed to make any discriminations as to premiums, divi
dends, or otherwise, between insured of the same class and ex
pectation of life. Penna. I^aws, 1895, p. 432.
APPENDIX C.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
/. General Works.
Publications of Atlanta University :
No. i. Mortality Among Negroes in Cities.
No. 2. Social and Physical Condition of Negroes.
No. 3. Efforts of Negroes for Social Betterment.
Atlanta, Ga., 1896-98.
Edward Bettle. Notices of Negro Slavery as Connected
with Pennsylvania. In Mem. Hist. Soc. of Pennsylvania, L
Charles Booth, lyife and Labour of the People. I<ondon,
1892.
M. Carey and J. Bioren. I^aws of Pennsylvania, 1700-1802.
Philadelphia, 1803.
A. J. Dallas. I^aws of Pennsylvania, 1700-1781. Philadel
phia, 1797.
W. E. Burghardt DuBois. Suppression of the Slave Trade.
New York, 1896.
The Study of the Negro Problems. Annals of the
Amer. Acad. of Pol. and Soc. Science. Philadelphia, 1898.
The Negroes of Farmville, Va. (U. S. Bureau
of I^abor Bulletin , January, 1898.)
[Benjamin Franklin.] An Essay on the African Slave
Trade. Philadelphia, 1790.
[Friends.] Germantown Friends' Protest Against Slavery,
1688. (Facsimile copy) Philadelphia, 1880.
[Friends.] The Appeal of the Religious Society of Friends
in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, etc. . . . on behalf of the
Colored Races. Philadelphia, 1858.
[Friends.] A Brief Statement of the Rise and Progress of
the Testimony of rite Religious Society of Friends against
Slavery and the Slave Trade. Philadelphia, 1843.
Samuel Hazard. The Register of Pennsylvania. Phila
delphia, 1828-36.
(4i9)
420 Appendix C.
Hull House Maps and Papers. New York, 1895.
Samuel M. Janney. History of the Religious Society of
Friends. Philadelphia, 1859-67.
Walter Laidlaw, Editor. The Federation of Churches and
Christian Workers in New York City. First and Second
Sociological Canvasses. New York, 1896-1897.
Marion J. McDougal. Fugitive Slaves. Boston, 1891.
Edward Needles. An Historical Memoir of the Pennsyl
vania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery. Phila
delphia, 1848.
William C. Nell. Services of Colored Americans in the
Wars of 1776 and 1812. Reprinted, Philadelphia, 1894.
Statutes-at-Large of the State of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia.
Pennsylvania Colonial Records. Philadelphia.
Robert Proud. History of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia,
1797-98.
R. Mayo-Smith. Statistics and Sociology. New York, 1896.
Allen Clapp Thomas. The Attitude of the Society of
Friends toward Slavery, etc. (Reprinted from Vol. VIII,
American Society of Church History.) New York, 1897.
Census of the United States, First to the Eleventh. Wash
ington, 1790-1898.
George W. Williams. History of the Negro Race in Amer
ica from 1619 to 1880. New York, 1883.
Joseph T. Willson. The Black Phalanx. Hartford, 1889.
Carroll D. Wright. Slums of Great Cities. Seventh Special
Report of the United States Department of Labor. Washing
ton, 1894.
//. Books and Pamphlets Relating to Philadelphia Negroes.
Benjamin C. Bacon. Statistics of the Colored People of
Philadelphia. Philadelphia, 1856.
Ibid., Second Edition, with Statistics of Crime.
Philadelphia, 1859.
A Brief History of the Movement to Abolish the Slums of
Philadelphia. Philadelphia. (Pam.)
Collection of Reports of Charitable Institutions for Colored
Persons. Philadelphia. (Ridgeway Library.)
Bibliography. 421
Colored Enlistments. Philadelphia. (Pam. Philadelphia
Library Co.)
Colored People in Philadelphia. Philadelphia. (Pam. Phila
delphia Library Co.)
Colored Regiments. Philadelphia. (Pam. Philadelphia
Library Co.)
Education and Employment Statistics of the Colored People
of Philadelphia. (MS. in Library of Historical Association.)
Dr. E. O. Emerson. Vital Statistics of Philadelphia (in
American Journal of Medical Sciences, July, 1848.)
[Friends.] A Brief Sketch of the Schools for Black People
and Their Descendants Established by the Religious Society of
Friends, in 1770. Philadelphia, 1867.
A. Mott. Biography of Colored People. Philadelphia.
(Pam. Philadelphia Library Co.)
Edward Needles. Ten Years' Progress, or a Comparison of
the State and Condition of the Colored People in the City and
County of Philadelphia from 1837 to 1847. Philadelphia, 1849.
Daniel A. Payne. History of the A. M. E. Church. Nash
ville, 1891.
Report of the Committee Appointed for the Purpose of
Securing to Colored People in Philadelphia the Right to the
use of the Street Cars. Philadelphia, 1865. (Para.)
Report of the Committee on the Comparative Health, Mor
tality, Length of Sentences, etc., of White and Colored Con
victs. Philadelphia, 1849.
Frederick W. Spiers. The Street Railway System of Phila
delphia, etc. Johns Hopkins University Studies. Ser. 15,
Nos. 3-5. Baltimore, 1897.
The Present State and Condition of the Free People of
Colour of the City of Philadelphia and Adjoining Districts, etc.
Philadelphia, 1838.
A Statistical Inquiry into the Condition of the People of
Color of the City and Districts of Philadelphia. Philadelphia,
1849.
Trades of the Colored People. Philadelphia, 1838.
John F. Watson. Annals of Philadelphia. Philadelphia,
1830.
A. W. Wayman. My Recollections of A. M. E. Ministers.
Philadelphia, 1882.
422 Appendix C.
Why Colored People in Philadelphia Are Excluded from the
Street Cars. Philadelphia, 1866. (Pam.^Two Editions.)
[John Woolman.] Considerations on Keeping Negroes.
Philadelphia, 1784.
///. Books and Pamphlets Written by Philadelphia Negroes.
Act of Incorporation, Causes and Motives of the African
Episcopal Church of Philadelphia. Philadelphia, 1810.
Richard Allen. (First Bishop of A. M. E. Church.) The
I/ife, Experience and Gospel labours of the Rt. Rev. Richard
Allen, etc. Written by himself. Philadelphia, 1833.
Richard Allen and Jacob Tapsico. The Doctrine and Discip
line of the A. M. E. Church. Philadelphia, 1819.
Matthew Anderson. Presbyterianism and Its Relation to
the Negro. Philadelphia, 1897.
Appeal of Forty Thousand Colored Citizens, Threatened with
Disfranchisement, to the People of Pennsylvania. Philadel
phia, 1838. (Pam.)
Jeremiah Asher. Autobiography. Philadelphia, 1862.
E. D. Bassett Handbook on Hayti. Philadelphia.
J. J. G. Bias. Synopsis of Phrenology. Philadelphia, 1859.
Lorenzo Blackson. Autobiography. Philadelphia, 1861.
C. H. Brooks. Manual and History of the Grand United
Order of Odd Fellows, 360 pp. Philadelphia, 1864.
Robert Campbell. A Pilgrimage to My Motherland; an Ac
count of a Journey among the Egbas and Yorubas of Central
Africa. Philadelphia, 1861.
W. Y. Catto. History of the Presbyterian Movement. Phil
adelphia, 1858.
Levi J. Coffin. The Relation of Baptized Children to the
Church. Philadelphia, 1890. 106 pp.
Martin Robinson Delaney. Condition, Elevation, Emigration
and Destiny of the Colored People of the United States, etc.
Philadelphia, 1852.
William Douglass. Sermons Preached in the African Prot
estant Episcopal Church of St. Thomas', Philadelphia. Phila
delphia, 1854.
William Douglass. Annals of St. Thomas' Church. Phil
adelphia, 1862.
Bibliography. 423
Jolin S. Durham. To Teach the Negro History. Philadel
phia, 1898.
Frances B. W. Harper. Miscellaneous Poems. Boston,
1854.
. Forest leaves. Baltimore, 1855.
. lola I^eroy: A Novel. Third Edition.
Philadelphia, 1892. 280 pp.
Absalom Jones. A Thanksgiving Sermon. ... On
Account of the Abolition of the African Slave Trade, etc.
Philadelphia, 1808. (Pam.)
Robert Jones. Fifty Years in the [Lombard Street Central
Presbyterian Church. Philadelphia, 1894. 170 pp.
H. T. Johnson. The Divine Ix>gos. Philadelphia, 1890.
Jarena I^ee. Journal. Philadelphia, 1849.
. The Color of Solomon. Philadelphia, 1895.
93 PP-
Minutes of the First Annual Convention of the People of
Colour. Philadelphia, 1831. (Pam.)
Minutes of Third Annual Convention of Free Negroes.
Philadelphia, 1833. (Pam.)
Mrs. N. T. Mossell. The Work of Afro- American Women.
Philadelphia, 1894. 178 pp.
Proceedings of Convention of Colored Freemen of Pennsyl
vania. Philadelphia. (Pam.)
Robert Purvis. Remarks on the L/ife and Character of James
Forten. (Pam.)
William Still. The Underground Railroad. Philadelphia,
1872. 780 pp.
Benjamin T. Tanner. An Apology for African Methodism.
Baltimore, 1867. 468 pp.
. Theological lectures. Nashville, 1894.
185 PP-
. An Outline of History and Government for
A. M. K. Churchmen. Philadelphia, 1884. 206 pp.
[Joseph Willson.] Sketches of the Higher Classes of Colored
Society in Philadelphia. Philadelphia, 1841.
SPECIAL REPORT
ON
NEGRO DOMESTIC SERVICE
IN THE SEVENTH WARD
PHILADELPHIA
BY
ISABEL EATON, M. A.
Fellow of the College Settlements Association
I.
INTRODUCTION.
This paper is an attempt to give the most accurate facts
obtainable bearing upon the question of colored domestic ser
vice in Philadelphia. It endeavors to show the relation of the
colored domestic to the general domestic service problem on
the one hand, and to the great mass of the Negro people on
the other. The purpose, scope and methods of the work are
the same as those already explained at length by Dr. W. E. B.
Du Bois in the introduction to this volume, constituting the
general report of the investigation conducted by the University
of Pennsylvania.
The section treating Domestic Service is no unimportant divi
sion of the general subject. On the contrary, it is probably of
more consequence than any other single aspect of the problem,
since the number of domestic servants among colored wage-
earners is shown by the last census to be greater in thirty-two
out of forty-eight States than the number engaged in any other
occupation ; while in many cases it is greater than the number
engaged in all other employments taken together. Indeed this
predominance of domestic service over all other occupations fol
lowed by the Negroes, is recorded of every State in the Union,
excepting the Southern States, where agriculture stands first
and domestic service second. It will doubtless be surprising
to many to hear that the census record shows that each of the
Northern and Western States, with the single exception of Dela
ware, has more colored people in domestic service than in any
other occupation, while in nearly seven in every ten of these
States colored domestic service more than outnumbers the
aggregate of all other occupations of colored people. The
record for the State of Pennsylvania as given by the last
census shows the following 'facts concerning occupations of
Negroes throughout the State:
428 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
State.
All Occupations.
Domestic Service.
Males.
Females.
Males.
Females.
Pennsylvania . . ...
37,534
15,704
22,505
14,297
It appears from this that very nearly 60 per cent of the colored
workingmen of Pennsylvania are engaged in domestic ser
vice ; while over 91 per cent of the colored workingwomen of
the State are in service. A graphic presentation of these facts
makes clear the large proportion of the Negro population
of Pennsylvania employed in domestic service:
PROPORTION OF COLORED DOMESTIC SERVANTS IN PENNSYLVANIA
AS COMPARED WITH WHOLE WORKING COLORED POPU
LATIONELEVENTH CENSUS.
O IOO
B DOMESTIC SERVICE
Q ALL OTHER OCCUPATIONS
In the city of Philadelphia nearly the same preponderance of
domestic service in relation to other occupations of the colored
people is found.
In this investigation a separate schedule for domestic service
was used. 1 Like the other schedules, it was prepared under the
direction of Dr. S. M. Lindsay, Assistant Professor of Sociology
at the University of Pennsylvania, and was carefully revised by
the national Department of Labor at Washington, as well as by
prominent statisticians in New York and elsewhere. The facts
here given were collected during a nine months, residence at
the Philadelphia College Settlement, which is located in the
heart of one of the most densely populated Negro quarters of
the city.
This schedule was used throughout the residence streets of
the Seventh Ward, and elsewhere in the ward limits wherever
1 See Appendix A.
Introduction.
colored domestics were employed. 2 This ward includes among
its inhabitants all grades of wealth and comfort, from the
houses with a coachman and coachman's assistant, a butler and
butler's assistant, and a retinue of female domestics as well, to
those houses where only one woman is employed, who does
"general housework/' sometimes including not only cooking
and laundry work, but also the furnace work, removal of ashes,
1 'cleaning the front, ' ' and other outside work usually delegated
to a man. And thus, since nearly all degrees of wealth are
represented in the district investigated that is to say, from
the present point of view, all grades of service-employing fami
lies it is probable that all grades of colored domestic service
have been encountered in this survey.
In this house-to-house canvass, every domestic scheduled,
with a very few exceptions, was personally interviewed. Oc
casionally the butler or waiter would answer for the cook, if
both chanced to have served long in the same family, or
sometimes the lady of the house would herself supply the
answers, but in every case the information given was such as
to warrant belief in its reliability. To the domestic servants
personally interviewed in this way have been added the far
greater number scheduled by Dr. DuBois in his canvass of the
homes of the colored people within the ward limits. Alto
gether 677 men have been recorded and 1612 women, making
a total of 2289 domestics, male and female, either working or
living in the Seventh Ward.
For map showing the ward boundaries see page 59.
II.
ENUMERATION OF NEGRO DOMESTIC SERVANTS.
Recent Reform in Domestic Service. Reform in the ad
ministration of the household has been called a " belated
reform, " one that has been so long- a time in gaining the ear of
intelligent people that it must somehow make up for lost
time and gain a little on other reforms before it can hope to
come abreast of the progress of the age. In view of the fact
that college-bred women in greater numbers are assuming
responsibility for the administration of the household, at the
same time that reform of domestic service is being agitated,
it is natural to think that the one thing partly accounts for the
other. It is certainly true that the question is now for the first
time being treated scientifically by some of the most intelligent
women in the country. The Civic Club of Philadelphia has
done honorable pioneer work in attempting to establish a
standard of work and wages for domestic servants, and other
similar clubs are following in their footsteps. Also, there is
beginning to be a literature on the subject, best represented by
Charles Booth's Study of Household Service in the eighth vol
ume of his " Life and Labour of the People,'' and by the admi
rable work entitled "Domestic Service" by Miss Lucy M.
Salmon, Professor of History at Vassar College. In the
latter work, which is easily the best authority on this much
discussed but little understood subject, the doctrine of sur
vival through adaptation is for the first time applied to the
economics of the household. One result has been the con
viction that much of the friction in the modern household
arises from its lack of adaptation to the civilization of to-day,
and will disappear when domestic service gets in line with
the march of progress and ceases to try to meet modern
needs by the employment of mediaeval methods. The higher
is dependent on the lower, and as our social reforms deal
with the houses and food of the poor for the sake of higher
things than mere physical well being, so all our reforms must
(430)
Enumeration of Negro Domestic Servants. 431
begin at the bottom and work up. We may take courage that
reforms in domestic service and in household economics will
spread, since they have now ceased to be regarded as impos
sibilities, and the problems involved are being fairly faced.
With the widening of woman's mental horizon has come
a realizing sense of the truth regarding household work, that
" in no other occupation is there so much waste of labor and
capital, and in no other would a fraction of this waste be over
looked. 17
This report endeavors to contribute to the problem the
results of a study of facts concerning the domestic work of
Negroes in Philadelphia.
Enumeration. In presenting these facts, we shall begin
with an enumeration of Negro domestics.
The first table shows the number of colored domestic ser
vants 3 in the Seventh Ward of Philadelphia by sex and age
periods:
TABLE I.
(Domestic Service. )
NUMBER OF COIX>RED DOMESTIC SERVANTS IN WARD SEVEN BY
SEX AND AGE PERIODS.
Age.
Male.
Female.
Ten to twenty . .... . ...
48
274.
Twenty-one to thirty . .
1O%
608
Thirty-one to forty ......... . .
J<-p
165
^64
Forty-one End over . . . .
Trf>
262
Age unknown .... ...
IA.
Total
/:**
T /r TO
077
From this statement it will be seen that of the colored ser
vice in the ward about 30 per cent is furnished by men and 70
per cent by women. In the Seventh Ward of Philadelphia
there were found to be 9675 colored persons, of whom 2289
are here seen to be domestic employes, or 23.7 per cent of the
8 In this study of the condition of the colored people of Philadelphia,
all persons scheduled as * * domestk servants " are connected with private
establishments, waiters in hotels, etc., being classified with public
service.
432 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
total colored population of the ward. It is a little over 30 per
cent of all tlie colored wage-earners of the ward.*
This per cent in domestic service agrees very nearly with the
following table taken from the eleventh census, showing the
proportion of Negro wage-earners engaged in domestic service
the country over to be 31.4 to the hundred. 5
TABI,E FROM EI^VENTH CENSUS OF THE UNITED STATES SHOWING
PERCENTAGES OF DIFFERENT BI/EMENTS OF THE POPULATION
ENGAGED IN DIFFERENT OCCUPATIONS.
Native Whites.
Per cent.
Foreign Born.
Per cent.
Negro.
Per cent.
5. 5
2.2
I.I
41.0
25.5
57.2
Trade and transportation ....
17.0
22. Q
14.0
31.^
4-7
5 6
"* ?
13.6
27.O
11.4.
Total
100.
100.
100.0
When public waiters and waitresses in hotels and restaurants,
as well as janitors and caretakers, are included in the count of
domestic servants, it brings the ratio up nearly to 41 per cent
of the whole number of colored wage-earners in the ward.
After considering what per cent of the colored people are
domestics, it is interesting to notice what part of domestic ser
vice is colored. So we turn from the ratios just given to con
sider what proportion of the total of domestic service in the
United States is performed by colored people. When we think
of American domestic service as a whole, we have a more or
4 The 2289 domestics which constitute 34 per cent of the 6611 Negroes
in the Seventh Ward engaged in gainful occupations are those actually
investigated in the special inquiry into domestic service. The number
may not include all the domestics in the ward and does not include
many classes of persons enumerated under "domestic and personal ser
vice" in the table on page 108 of this volume.
5 Domestic service is classified in the census under "personal service,"
and includes persons classified elsewhere in this investigation, such as
hotel proprietors, but the number of Negroes thus included is small, and
the error of comparison, therefore, small.
Enumeration of Negro Domestic Servants. 433
less clear conception of a great army of the colored race in the
south, of the Irish and Germans in the north, of the Swedes
in the middle west, and of the Chinese on the Pacific Coast.
The census of 1890 gives the relative numbers of native white,
foreign white and colored (including Chinese) domestic em
ployes in the United States as follows:
ELEMENTS OF THE POPULATION ENGAGED IN DOMESTIC SERVICE.
(From the Eleventh Census of the United States. )
Number.
Per cent
Geographical Section.
Native
White.
Foreign
White.
Colored.
Native
White.
For'gn
White
CoPd.
Pacific Coast .
27 eft
2JT g-5
i~'?fi *IQ
Eastern . . .
ao ii
OO'3
ec 22
i-*-o9
567
Middle* ....
I76,IQd
I7c SJQ
42.O4Q
AA Tf
AA 6-2
/
10 67
Western
qq. /J.
*sQ OS
5-3 T T
6 QI
Border (near the Ma-
son-Dixon line)
2T 6*1
662
6l 7*
Southern ......
51.00
IO 77
O. TO
So iz
United States ....
41.6=;
2Q *S
2880
* Includes New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.
f This term includes also Chinese who are reckoned in the census as "colored."
These figures attribute nearly 29 per cent of the domestic
service of the country to the colored, who comprise only I2j4
per cent of the population.
The colored perform about three times as much domestic
service in proportion to their numbers as the whites do. From
this it will be seen that^while the study of domestic service in
any consideration of the condition of the colored people is
important, the study of the Negro domestic is equally impor
tant in any careful consideration of the domestic service prob
lem. It will be noticed that the per cents for the middle sec
tion of States show only 10.67 P 61 " *& of the domestic service
performed by colored people. The large urban populations
of the New York cities doubtless reduce this below what it
would be if only Pennsylvania and New Jersey were consid
ered, as city servants are mostly drawn from our foreign white
population, but if the rate be accepted as true for the city of
434 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
Philadelphia (though it is doubtless much too low for a city
which has the largest colored population of any city in the
United States, except New Orleans and Washington), if it be
accepted for Philadelphia, where 4 per cent of the population
is colored, we shall find that the Negro domestics ' ' run ahead
of their ticket ' ' here also in this matter of household service.
The probable reason for this disproportion is not far to seek
when we remember the unpopularity of domestic service which
keeps whites out, and reflect that the colored prejudice^ which
is known to operate against the Negro in nearly all depart
ments of labor excepting drudgery, actually works in his favor in
the matter of domestic service, where the competence of Negro
waiters and the superior skill of Negro cooks is generally ad
mitted. Hence, Negro labor, following the line of least resist
ance, flows in enlarged streams into the channel of domestic
service.
III.
SOURCES OF THE SUPPLY AND METHODS OF HIRING.
The question next arises as to the chief sources of Philadel
phia's large supply of colored service. Are these people
Southern Negroes, or Philadelphia born ? The quality of ser
vice rendered and the standard of excellence may depend in
some degree upon circumstances of birth and training. Hence
the facts in regard to nativity as shown in Table II, which fol
lows, are worth considering:
TAB^E II.
NATIVITY OF COLORED DOMESTIC SERVANTS IN PHILADELPHIA.
Number and Per Cent by Sex and Birthplace.
Birthplace.
Number of
Males.
Number of
Females.
Total
Number.
Total
Per cent.
Philadelphia
78
37
18
34
IO2
199
5
50
36
7
4
28
2
O
O
2
I
O
2
15
8
I
5
i
2
I
2
O
O
O
37
215
94
50
99
359
439
14
85
68
5
ir
51
3
5
2
I
4
2
2
2
4
10
i
2
4
i
2
2
I
I
I
72
293
?
461
638
19
135
104
12
15
79
5
5
2
I
6
3
2
4
19
18
2
7
5
2
I
3
2
2
I
I
I
109
5o8
20. 14 1 o
5.90
4.50
3-90
Pennsylvania
New Jersey . . .....
Delaware . .....
Maryland
Virginia ........
West Virginia . .....
District of Columbia . . .
S/Ynth 0T<YIitia
Georgia
South Georgia . .
West Georgia
Ohio
Missouri ....
Kentucky . . .
Tennessee
Mississippi .
West Indies
New York. ... . .
Maine .
Massachusetts ......
Connecticut . . .
Rhode Island .......
North Rhode Island ....
Canada . .
Florida ..........
Texas
Hungary .
Scotland
South America ......
Total .
677
1612
2289
(435)
436 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
These facts show clearly that the greater part of Philadel
phia's colored domestic service is supplied from Maryland and
Virginia, particularly from the latter State. It will be noticed
that less than one-fifth of it (18.5 per cent) is supplied from
Philadelphia and the State of Pennsylvania, while very nearly
one-half (48.4 percent) comes from the two States of Maryland
and Virginia. Some interesting indications in regard to nativ
ity and quality of service as measured by length of service
with the same employer, are brought out later in Table
XXV.
Methods of Hiring. Philadelphia is as much at the mercy
of employment bureaus, and the frequently untrustworthy
recommendations of previous employers, as are other large
cities. Yet these and the method of advertising are the only
ways open to the employer for accomplishing what has been
called the " inevitable annual change of employes." The col
ored people in domestic service seldom seek employment through
the Philadelphia intelligence offices or by applying in answer
to advertisement unless it is particularly stated that colored
help is acceptable or preferred. They generally offer the recom
mendations of former employers, though many of them, seldom
the best ones, offer their services from door to door and are
employed upon the recommendation of personal appearance and
general bearing. The colored man's avoidance of the employ
ment bureau is largely due to the fact that extortionate fees
are usually charged him. He patronizes a few bureaus kept
by colored people whom he trusts ; and his unwillingness to
answer advertisements needs no explanation but the remark
already offered.
Personnel of Colored Domestic Service. In regard to
the personnel of domestic service, the facts in Philadelphia cor
respond with those for all employes the world over ; Negro
domestic servants are for the most part women rather than men,
and young rather than middle-aged or old people. An examina
tion of Table I will show that only about 30 in 100 of Philadel
phia's colored domestics are men, while a study of the census
figures of 1890 shows only 16 men in 100 in domestic service
the country over; and the disproportion in English household
service is even greater, there being only 7 men in 100 Lon
don servants. The sexes thus engaged in domestic work in
Sources of Supply and Methods of Hiring. 437
Philadelphia, in the United States and in I/radon are here
compared in tabular form:
TABLE III.
Sux IN DOMESTIC SERVICE OF DIFFERENT LOCALITIES COMPARED.
Locality.
Male.
Per cent.
Female.
Per cent.
Colored Domestic Service in Philadelphia . . .
2Q 6
**""
7O 6.
Domestic Service in United States (eleventh census)
Domestic Service in London (Charles Booth, Vol.
8, p. 211)
15-8
6 7
84.2
Q1 1
y^-o
A comparison of the two columns shows very clearly that
domestic work which has long been considered as " women's
work M is still being done largely by women, A comparison
of the items of the first column of Table II with each other
shows that, taking the country over, where the domestic service
is represented largely by Irish, German, English, Swedish and
Norwegian elements as well as Negroes, the proportion of men
servants falls to only about one-half that of colored men ser
vants in Philadelphia. This again is probably to be accounted
for by the fact that so many avenues of employment which are
closed to colored men are open to men among the white
foreign element which makes up the greater part of American
service. In our shops and markets and in our building trades,
on our trolley cars and our delivery wagons we see Irish and
German and Swedish men, but no Negroes. The result upon
domestic service of this closing of so many doors to the colored
man is twofold. Many of them, being unable to better them
selves financially by leaving service for other employments,
remain in household work much longer than they otherwise
would do, and when they marry many of them ** turn waiter**
because household service is one of the best paid employments
open to the blacks. Thus colored men servants tend to remain
in service longer than whites do, and the frequent addition to
their ranks of married colored men also tends to increase the
ratio of men servants among Negro domestics as well as to
raise the average age.
Next to the small number of men in domestic service and tie
fact that a greater proportion of colored than of white men are
43 8 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
domestics, a study of the personnel of domestic service reveals
peculiarities concerning the age of servants. Nearly all house
hold servants are comparatively young. This has been found
to be true everywhere, where records have been made, and
more especially among whites than among blacks. The colored
people in service are older on the average than the whites (as
would be expected from facts just given). ISTearly one-half
of all the colored domestics in the Seventh Ward of Phila
delphia, both men and women, are included in the age period
between twenty-one and thirty years as may be seen by refer
ence to Table I. The average age among them is 31.9 years
for the men, and 29.6 for the women, the combined average for
both sexes being 30.3 years. This shows that Philadelphia's
colored domestics are comparatively young people, but an ex
amination of the age of London servants shows also 30.5 years
as the average age of the men and 28.2 years as the average.
age of the women in service there. While the United States
Census of 1890 shows men servants the country over to average
29. i years, the women average only 26. 8 years. These average
ages are given in tabular form for convenience of comparison.
TABLE IV.
AGE IN DOMESTIC SERVICE OF
COMPARED.
I,OCAI,ITIES
Ivocality.
Male.
Aver. Age.
Female.
Aver. Age.
Colored Domestic Service in Philadelpliia ...
General Domestic Service in Ixmdon (computed
from Charles Booth's Diagram ). . .
31-9
30.5
29.1
29.6
28.2
26.8
General Domestic Service in United States
puted from eleventh census) . . .
(com-
Sources of Supply and Methods of Hiring. 439
250
250
240
230
220
210
s \
y
X
I
\
I
\
EN<
DIAG
c
3USH
RAM^
iHDIN
:OFOO
1
*
UAGRAM A.
DoMELSTic SERVICE.
SHOWING A(^s OF PERSONS
busEHou) SERVICES OF THE
COPIED LONDON (MALES)
)OM.SERVICE
rtfoOLE OF OCCUPIED LomX4.
f
[
\
'
\
1
i
ENGAC
Wnoif
*
\
190
f
\
i
\
180
i
.^v
^
^ X
\
170
160
150
I4Q
130
120
110
too
SO
SO
70
60
50
40
30
20
IO
i \
\ \
X^
1 r i
^
r I
^^
H f
\
f
V
f /
v
1
V
]/
k x
if
\ \.
HI
^
'!/
\
\
[/
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iff
X
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1
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n
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X
iH
^
X,
fit
^
'/
^^
il
V
Xt
rf
^,
X,
V
"V
J/
\
x
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^
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il
x
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Vi
X.
f
v
>v
-^
v
X
X.
x._
x^
x.
"^te^^
^^
***-^
O 15 ZO 25 3X1 35 40 45 SO 55 60 65 70 75
Taken from Booth's " I^ife and Labour of the People," Vol. 8, p. 211.
44O Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
57fl
s \
>
\
260
S
%
1
1
^
I
\
240
1
DIAGRAM B.
SHOWING AGES OF PERSONS
ENGAGED IN DOMESTIC SERVICE IN
THE U.S.AND AGES OF THE WHOLE
NO.OFWAGE-EARNERS IN THEUSfMALES)
DOM.SERVICE
ALL WAGE EARNERS
I
\
1
\
t
%
f
210
t
\
i
\
II
jy
t.t
^\
\
190
/
X
\
^
\
~T
180
170
160
t/-
COM
r/lMDA
WJTED FROM IPCENSUSFlGURESFOR
BISON WITH SIMILAR MAP BY BOOTH
[/
|/
\
]/
\
\
t
\
I
\
\
150
140
130
120
110
too
90
70
60
30
40
30
20
10
fl
, \
i\
v *
II
\\
l\\
\\
II
\
" VI
^
tx
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\X
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>y
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X.
i
% ^
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"Ny^
\
^
x^
k^
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v
x.
x^
x
^"v.
[> (5 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 6C
Sources of Supply and Methods of Hiring. 441
350
340
330
320
310
300
280
270
260
*
J 1
I
n
i
*
I
1
\
DIAGRAM C.
r
\
1
\
r
ENGAGED m DOM.SERVICE iNT^WAim
I
i
1
\
OFft
MAU
ULADE
EWAI
Do
An
LPHIA/ASES OFAIlCOLORED
^-EARNERS IN SAMEWARD
M.SERVICE
.COLORED MALE WAGE-EARI$
/ i \
A
/ / \
/ / \
1 /
V
\
I /
r /
\
240
230
220
210
200
//
, \
i
\ i
\\
i
\
v
/
X
I/
A
f/
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f-n
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FM
M
IJL
MM
\ "M
180
170
tso
150
J40
{30
J20
no
K>0
90
M
\-
N
n
i
ttO
70
eo
5C
40
30
20
10
1 B
> 3
)
) 3
) 32
^ 4(
i
> 61
-V
D 5!
) 6C
i ^
J 7C
1 7!
E 80
442 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
But while these are average ages, the very great excess of
the younger age periods over the older ones may be more clearly
seen by the diagrams A, B and C, contrasting the ages of
domestic men servants with the ages of all other male wage
earners. Diagram A shows these differences of age, as exhib
ited in London, between men in household service and all of
occupied London. Diagram B shows the contrast as it exists
between men servants in the United States and all the occupied
men in the total population. Diagram C contrasts ages of col
ored male servants in the Seventh Ward of Philadelphia and
those of all occupied colored males in that ward. What these
three maps mean is that the ratio which the young men in
domestic service bear to the whole number of men in domestic
service is greater (by as much as the diagram indicates in each
case) than the ratio which the young men in all occupations
bear to the whole number of men in all occupations. In Lon
don, according to Mr. Booth's diagram, there is an excess of
youth in service between ages of fifteen and thirty-three, after
which age the males in household work fall behind those
otherwise occupied. In America, according to diagram B, 6 the
excess of young men in service begins at fifteen, lasting till
nearly the age of thirty-nine, after which the proportion of men
in service is less than that of men otherwise occupied. In the
Seventh Ward of Philadelphia, according to diagram C, we
notice an interesting variation from the comparatively close
agreement of diagrams A and B. The greatest excess of youth
in service, here, as in A and B, is also at about twenty-three
to twenty-five years, but diagram C seems to show that in
Negro wage-earning in cities, the disproportionately large
number of men in domestic service holds good for every age
except that period which marks a man's greatest physical
strength, the period between thirty and forty years. The ex
cess of colored men of that age in other occupations is no-
doubt due to the large number of colored men of great physi
cal strength who act as stevedores, porters, etc., between the
ages of thirty and forty. The sudden bend at thirty-five in
the domestic service line, in diagram C, is due to the fact that
the last age period recorded was " forty- one years and over,"
Computed on census figures and after Mr. Booth's method.
Sources of Supply and Methods of JFftring". 443
and, therefore, includes a few old servants about sixty. If
each decade had been recorded, the curve would be more
gradual, perhaps crossing- the other between forty and forty-
five. The excess of sixty-seven points on the forty- five-year
line is almost equal to the excess at twenty- five years, and Is,
therefore, probably in need of modification, though there is little
doubt of its indicating a real condition of Negro labor in
cities.
The fact that the highest point of excess of youth in these
three diagrams is reached at twenty-three to twenty-five years
is significant, and suggests the query why it is that domestic
service so clearly attracts the young of both sexes and of all
races. It is safe to say that one of the most prominent deter
mining causes is necessity for immediate income. Many
young men and women are obliged by circumstances to under
take some form of work which, while requiring no capital and
no particular course of training, still yields an immediate
return, which is certain to provide them at least their board
and lodging, with a small amount for living expenses. This
is the chief reason why the first employment of young men
and women just beginning to support themselves is so often
" going out to service. **
IV.
GRADES OF SERVICE AND WAGES.
In his study of household service in the eighth volume of
" Life and Labour of the People," Mr. Charles Booth distin
guishes three grades or divisions among women in domestic
service. The lowest group is made up of those employed in
the "roughest single-handed places/ 5 The next group is
made up of those in single-handed places, but of a better class;
while the third group " includes those employed in many mid
dle class homes and in the large establishments of the wealthy,
it being scarcely possible to make any practical division
between these two classes of servants. 13 Bach group merges
imperceptibly into the next above it, so that it is practically
impossible to separate them in statistical enumeration. If
another grade be supplied between the second and third given
;k ere __ a grade found in well-to-do Philadelphia families, where
two women servants are employed this grading of London
service applies very fairly to the condition of colored service
in Philadelphia. A considerable number of families in Phila
delphia employ but one woman servant, and hire no extra help
to do laundry work, house cleaning or outside work. The one
woman does the tl cooking, washing, ironing, and drags up all
the ashes, tends furnace, cleans the front, and does every sin
gle thing " as one woman put her own case. A second sort
of household has only one domestic, but also hires extra ser
vice for laundry work, etc. Then follows the large number of
houses where two women servants are kept, cook and ' ' second
girl," sometimes with and sometimes without the weekly
extra service; and finally, the establishments with many
domestics, each having his or her own special duties. The
only classification of househould servants which is at all prac
ticable in this inquiry is that into sub-occupations or special
ized kinds of work resulting from division of labor within
domestic service. Such a classification of colored domestic
service in Philadelphia shows seven sub- divisions of the work
engaging the labor of ,men servants, while there are no fewer
than twelve in which women are employed. These are here
given in tabulated form:
(444)
Grades of Service and Wages.
445
TABLE v.
SUB-OCCUPATIONS IN PHILADEWHIA DOMESTIC SERVICE (SEVENTH
WAJLD) BY NUMBER AND SEX.
MALE.
FEMALE.
Bell and errand boys, etc. . . 23
Bntler 109
Coachman 76
Waiter 387
Cook 47
Valet 4
General work 31
Bell and errand girls, etc. . .
Child's nurse
Chambermaid
Waitress . ,
Waitress and chambermaid .
Lady's maid
Laundress , . . ,
Cook
Cook and laundress
Chambermaid and laundress ,
"Janitress" ........
General housework . . . . .
34
21
114
4 4
2*
Work Required of Various Sub-occupations. The work
usually assigned to each of these sub-classes is known in a gen
eral way by everyone. In one of the appendices to her book
on " Domestic Service," Miss Salmon publishes a circular letter
from one of the committees of the Philadelphia Civic Club to the
members of the club, submitting standards of work and wages
for the various classes of sub-occupations among domestic
servants. A single paragraph may be quoted, which gives the
duties of one sub-occupation minutely and accurately, though
all sorts of cross-classifications occur in practice, the waitress
often being also chambermaid or laundress:
4 'Waitresses at $3.00 or $3.50 per week; must understand
care of dining-room, of silver, glass and china; care and atten
tion in waiting on table, care of parlor and halls and answer
ing the doorbell properly."
The requirements for cooks, laundresses, chambermaids,
nurses, etc., are given with equal accuracy of detail, but this
is so generally understood that it is not necessary to dwell ou
the point here. The term "janitress" may need a word of
explanation; this was what the hall servant and generally use
ful domestic at a large private boarding school called herself,
and there were several others who seemed best classed with
her. The duties of the butler in many cases extend to those
of steward, and he is often to a large degree responsible for the
selection and purchase of the food materials used in his
particular establishment. The colored butler thus honorably
446 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
commissioned generally styles himself " butler and steward,"
though he has not, in any case thus far personally encountered,
the responsibility of engaging and paying the other servants,
as is the case with the English steward. The Philadelphia
use of the word is evidently a modification of the English
term and bears a quite different significance.
The wages paid for these services vary in accordance with
many modifying influences, as will be shown. Domestic ser
vice, however, is generally acknowledged to be well paid, as
compared with other occupations which are open to women.
A cook receiving $4.50 a week, the average pay in Boston, can
save as much in a year as the average teacher in American
public schools, as is shown by a comparison of the average
teacher's salary, based on 6512 records, 7 and the statement is
made on the authority of cashiers of banks in factory towns
that domestics as a class save more than do factory hands. The
question of the savings of colored domestics is treated in the
latter part of this report.
Table VI, which follows, shows the range of wages paid to
men in the various sub-divisions of colored domestic service and
also the average wage in each class of service. This table and
Table VII represent the statements of the workers themselves
in regard to their earnings.
TABLE VI.
OF WAGES AND AVERAGE WAGES OF COLORED MEN SER
VANTS IN PHILADELPHIA.
Sub-occupation.
Range of Wages.
Average
Weekly Wage.*
t$i>oo |4.5o
6.25 13.50
5.00 14.00
2-OO 8,OO
1,00 15.00
7.00 10. oo
I.OO IO.OO
$2.61
8,24
8.58
6,14
6,17
8.00
5,38
Butler ,
Waiter
Cook
Valet
General work
* Computed on basis of reports from all individuals interviewed belonging to each
sub-occupation .
f The figures given indicate the lowest and highest wages reported in each class, as
reported by those interviewed in a canvass of 616 individuals in the Seventh Ward,
Philadelphia.
M. Salmon, "Domestic Service/' p. 99.
Grades of Service and Wages.
447
The figures here given of course represent the weekly pay for
the services classified; but such sums as $1.00 as the weekly
pay for the service of a cook, or $2.00 as that of a waiter
should be recognized as unusual and as recording facts which
are far from typical, which represent the extreme of underpay
offered only under extraordinary circumstances, probably to a
young and inexperienced boy or to an aged or otherwise ineffi
cient cook.
Table VII gives the same set of facts in regard to the earn
ings of women servants:
TABLE VII.
OF WAGES AND AVERAGE WAGES OF COIX>RED WOMEN
SERVANTS IN
Sub-occupation.
Range of Wages.
Average Weekly, f
Errand girls, etc. ... . .
#0,00 $l2. t vO
$2 .CO
Child's nurse
1.50 lO'OO
^ V*
Chambermaid
I CQ ,4OO
3.17
Waitress ...
T CQ A QO
311
Waitress and chambermaid . . .
Lady's maid
2.00 3.50
3.50 4.CO
3 X
3-17
V6*
Laundress
2. co 7 .CO
4-O4.
Cook
2.50 10-00
4O2
Cook and laundress
7 CQ C OO
4 .CO
Chambermaid and laundress . . .
Janitress ... .... . .
3.25 4.00
2.00 7 oo
*
A..O&
General work
I ,00 go
^-24
* That is to say, ' ' living and tips."
f The average is the actual average for all cases recorded.
These two tables show that in domestic service, as in every
other department of the economic world, it is the office of skill
or of trust which is the best paid. The offices of skill and trust
among the men are those of butler and valet, or trusted per
sonal attendant. Frequently the coachman is also butler.
Comparison of the average pay of butlers with that of waiters
or general work of * * utility men, J * as they are called, shows very
clearly the higher pay for skilled work. Men cooks' wages are
here seen to below in comparison with the butlers* or coachmen's,
this for several reasons: first, because in so small a number
as were encountered one man. receiving only $1.00 brings down
the average appreciably; further, because in the wealthiest
448 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
establishments almost no men-cooks were encountered. The
majority of men-cooks reporting were employed in boarding
houses, where presumably the pay was not allowed for on a
lavish scale; but, finally and chiefly, wages of men-cooks are
lower because a man servant who is a cook practically com
petes with the woman-cook. The services of an excellent
woman can be gotten for $4.50 or $5.00, while no woman
can take the place of a butler or coachman; hence butlers'
wages are not affected by woman's competition. Doubtless
the same tendency operates to lower the wages of waiters, now
that such capable waitresses can be obtained. The same ten
dency is noticeable in England, where Mr. Booth says the but
ler is " giving place to the neat parlor-maid/' In Table VII,
showing women's wages, the skilled specialists are cooks and
laundresses, while the office of trust is held by the jani tress,
and these are seen to head the list in the matter of pay, being
the only women domestics who receive on the average more
than $4.00. The Boston Employment Bureau publishes a list 8
showing the same thing. The average wages of cooks in
Boston is given as $4.45, while chambermaids receive $3.86,
waitresses $3.76, second girls $3.34 and general servants $3.16.
The factotum, who does everything from cooking to furnace
work and house cleaning, is evidently not considered a skilled
hand, nor paid as such.
Secondly, these two tables also show clearly a very large dif
ference between the pay of men and of women in domestic
service; the men receiving on the average close upon 100 per
cent more than the women. Miss Salmon's averages, 9 showing
the wages of men and of women domestics throughout the
country, are $167.96 yearly for women and $373.36 yearly
for men. The difference here is more than 100 per cent.
These figures, therefore, emphasize this difference between
men's pay and women's pay, showing that men servants are
generally paid moie than double the wages which women
accept.
Are wages in domestic service affected by race or color ?
How do theory and practice agree in this matter of wages ?
8 L. M. Salmon, " Domestic Service/' p. 90.
9 If. M. Salmon, " Domestic Service," p. 88, or see Table X, following.
Grades of Service and Wages.
449
How nearly does the wage which ought to be paid agree
with the actual average pay of domestics? A comparison
of the figures given in Table VII, with the standard
of wages suggested by the ladies of the Philadelphia Civic
Club in the letter already quoted, is interesting as showing the
close agreement between pay which the best intelligence of
the city believes to be just and the actual average wages of
Philadelphia domestics. The following table compares these
average wages with the Civic Club estimates:
TABLE VHI.
COMPARISON OF " THEORETICAL WAGES" WITH ACTUAL WAGES o#
DOMESTICS IN PHILADELPHIA.
Civic Club Estimate.
Actual Ayerag Wag
of Colored Domestics.
Cooks ......
At $3 .50 or $4. oo per week.
$4 02
Waitresses .....
" 3.00 " 3.50 " "
4**I
Chambermaids . . .
Child's nurse . . .
" 3-00" 3-50 " "
" 3.00" 3,50 " "
tl % w " 4.00 " *
3*17
3.35
4,04
Seamstress . . . . "|
or {
I^ady's maid . . J
" 3.50 " 4-oo <f "
3-63
This agreement points to the probability that among women
in domestic service at least, there is no difference between
"white pay and black pay," however much of it there may be
in other departments of work in Philadelphia ; for the Civic
Club estimate is given for the whole field of service, white as
well as black. Among men servants, however, there probably
is a variation in wages determined largely by color. This first
became evident on Rittenhouse Square, 18 where the colored
butlers encountered were receiving on the average $36.90
monthly (a slightly better wage than that of the Seventh
Ward employes doing the same work), while the white but
lers, according to the statement of one of their number, ** gene
rally get $40.00 to $45.00 a month in the houses that keep one
man. Where there are two men two white men the first
^Rittenhouse Square is not in the Seventh Ward, but being probably
the most fashionable quarter of the city, was investigated for purposes oC
comparison.
45 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
may get $50.00 and the second $45.00 ; but there are not many
houses that pay $50.00." n
The variation in pay of colored and white butlers is probably
partly due then to the fact already stated that there are rela
tively fewer white than colored men in service ; thus giving
different ratios of supply and demand for white and colored
men servants. But the matter of fashion counts much. It
doubtless has more influence in determining the pay of an
employee who is as much in evidence as is the butler or coach
man than it has in fixing the pay of an " invisible employee"
like the cook. The question of personal appearance and fashion
holds also as between different grades of white employees, as
will be seen from Mr. Booth's statements that in London "a
second footman of five feet six inches would command 20 to
^22, while one of five feet ten inches or six feet would not take
under 2% or ^30. Again, a short first footman could not
expect more than ,30, while a tall man would command
j$2to ^40." The same principle operating in Philadelphia
often obliges colored men, like short footmen in London, to take
what they can get. There is a relatively smaller demand for
them for these two reasons, and so their pay varies from white
men' spay, while among the women those cooks and maids
who are the most skillful are in greatest demand ; so that
color makes less difference in the women's wages.
Does "imported service " affect wages of colored domes
tic servants in Philadelphia ? There can be little doubt that in
household service, where hardly anything else could have
affected their secure hold on at least this one branch of employ
ment, fashion has militated against the colored people of Phila
delphia. A Spruce street colored butler said, "What are you
11 The remainder of this conversation gives a side light on the reason
for this difference in men's wages. The investigator, seeing this butler
was communicative, said, "The colored butlers get less than that, I sup
pose you know, only $30 or $35, and a few get $40. Don't you think
they make as good or better butlers and waiters than you white men do ?"
He laughed and said, " Yes, they're better at that than we are, and "
in a half-confidential, half-amused tone" they aren't so lazy as we are.
We're lazy, but they are always anxious to please, and they work harder
'an we do." " Well, why don't they get the same pay, then ? " " Well,**
he said, stiffening, " but even if they do, you don't expect a white man
is going to work for what a nigger will take. You can't expect that."
Grades of Service and Wages.
45*
going to do when you're shut out of your work ? I don't
know no other country. I was born here. The colored are
shut out more than when I come to Philadelphia in '65. The
foreigners shut us out of even our ordinary work we've always
done in service. I don't know why ; because the colored
people are just as good help as they ever was. And the worst
is it throws them into the slums when they can't get their work.
I've been praying the Lord to help our people, " etc. A white
butler on Rittenhouse Square sums up the situation from what
might be called the impersonal point of view: '* You see they
(the employers) go to Europe and bring home Englishmen,
and that knocks out the Negro." Many colored women
natives say that it is harder now than formerly to get good
places, because there are so many more white girls foreigners
seeking household work.
It is difficult to reduce to figures information on this point,
but the following enumeration which shows the distribution of
colored service with reference to the fashionable quarter seems
to confirm the opinions of the butlers quoted, or at least to
indicate that the people who employ the greatest number of
servants employ fewer colored people than are to be found in
plainer establishments.
TABLE IX.
DISTRIBUTION OF COIX>REI> SERVICE WITH REFERENCE TO THE
FASHIONABLE QUARTER.
Seven Blocks East of Broad Street.
Seven Blocks West of Broad Street.
On
Spruce
Street
106 domestics, or 65 per cent
of all colored domestic
servants on Spruce Street
58 domestics, or 35 per cent of
all colored domestic ser
vants on Spruce Street
On
Pine
Street
99 domestics, or 58 per cent
of all colored domestic
servants on Pine Street
71 domestics, or 42 per cent of
all colored domestic ser
vants on Pine Street
The smaller number of colored domestics employed in the
fashionable section is noticeable both on Pine and Spruce
streets, the number to the east of Broad on Spruce being very
nearly double that in the more fashionable region to the west
The greater divergence of the ratios east and west is where we
should expect it in accordance with the butler's theory that
452 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
is on Spruce, the more fashionable street. 12 On the whole, it
seems probable that the fashion of importing English and
French service has an appreciable effect in the direction of
complicating Philadelphia's Negro problem.
" Importation" from the butler's point of view is easily ex
plained. The willingness of English butlers to come to
America is doubtless largely, indeed almost wholly, due to the
fact that their absolute money wages are so much higher here
than in England. Few of them are political economists enough
to realize that $600 in America may be worth only half that
sum in England. So glittering an offer as that of "double
his present salary,'* is eagerly accepted by the majority of
Englishmen of a certain grade of intelligence and this has
quite definite results upon the domestic service of our large
cities in America.
In the table which follows, the annual money wages of
domestic servants in London are contrasted with the general
yearly average wages for men's and women's work in thirty-
seven of our States and also with the wages of colored domestic
servants in Philadelphia.
TABLE X.
COMPARING ENGLISH AND AMERICAN "MONEY WAGES."
(Annual Amounts Over and Above Board and Lodging.)
Sub-occupation.
London. *
Colored Domestics
in Philadelphia.
United Stateji.t
Philadelphia.
l Gen'l Servant
Women. -< Housemaid .
(.Cook . . .
$77-50
82.50
ioo 50
$168.48
164.84
2OO -Oki
Average
women's
Average-
woman's
( Errand boy . . .
Men. { Footm'n, Coach'n
{.Butler . .
55.00
175-00
446.' 16
j 428-48 (Colored)
$167. 06.
Average
men's
wages,
$179.92.
Average
colored
300.00
1540- oo (White)
$373.36
wages,
$335-40
* Charles Booth, Vol. viii, pp. 217 and 223.
f Salmon, " Domestic Service/' p. 28.
12 In corroboratlon of this belief that colored men are displaced by im
ported English and foreign men servants comes the statement made to
the investigator by the business manager of the Continental Hotel. He
says that the Continental, which at the change of seasons often adds at
one time as many as thirty colored waiters and bellmen to its force, "can
always get as many colored waiters as are wanted at a few hours' notice,"
which certainly indicates that there are many unemployed colored men
in Philadelphia who are anxious to work but are crowded out in the
supply and demand adjustments.
Grades of Service and Wages. 453
The comparison here offered shows that in the most of the
sub-occupations of domestic service the actual sums paid are
twice as large in America as in London.
The range of wages in England as given by Mr. Booth also
strengthens the belief that American wages must sound very
large to English ears. " The actual wages earned," says Mr.
Booth, on page 217 of his eighth volume, ** begin as low as one
shilling a week, this amount being received in three cases (out
of a total of 1692 servants), while forty- two more were paid
less than ^5 per annum at the other end of the scale we find
three servants all over thirty years old, receiving from 26 to
36 a year, three more receiving 20 and ^39, others re
ceiving from 15 to 20. " To an American this sounds far
from lavish although it is of course impossible to know how
much this money is worth until we know the cost of staple
articles in I^ondon. Still^to a servant who has been receiving
even 36 a year ($180), our highest women's wage ($520 yearly)
would doubtless present remarkable attractions.
Do board and lodging enter into, or affect, wages? A
comparison of the items of Table X shows a very large dif
ference between the pay of American men servants and
American women servants. This seems hardly to be accounted
for by the fact that a much larger per cent of women in domes
tic service than of men receive board and lodging in addition
to wages. Miss Salmon's investigation estimates that only 60
per cent of the men servants receive board and lodging while
98 per cent of the women do.
In the Philadelphia investigation the facts upon this point
seem to indicate that the amount of wages is only slightly
affected, if at all, by the question of board and lodging. When
these are given in addition to wages they apparently do not
stand, in the mind of either employer or domestic, as part pay
ment for service. A comparison of the pay of women cooks
who lodge at their place of work with that of women cooks
who lodge at home will illustrate this. The average pay of
those who lodge at their place of work,and therefore receive
board and lodging in addition to wages, is $4.13 as contrasted
with $3.95 received by those who go home at night Here the
difference will be seen to be in the opposite direction from what
we should expect if board and lodging are reckoned as part of
454 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
the wages of cooks. The same facts hold good for the other
sub-occupations among colored domestic servants in the ward,
which would seem to indicate that in Philadelphia, at leastboard
and lodging are customarily given or not according as it suits
the convenience or the preference of mistress or maid, but are
not, except rarely, considered a part of the wages paid for
service. Many employers doubtless believe that the service
rendered by girls who lodge in their place of work is better,
and they may perhaps consider the board and lodging given
as added pay for better quality of service. Be this as it may,
the actnal money wages do not appear to be affected by it in
Philadelphia, where, as will be seen by the following table,
only 50 per cent of the colored women in service and only 24
per cent of the colored men lodge at their employers' establish
ments.
TABLE XL
NUMBER AND PER CENT OF COLORED DOMESTIC SERVANTS, BY SEX,
IN SEVENTH WARD, WHO LODGE AT PLACE OF WORK.
Lodging: Place.
MALE.
FEMALE.
No.
Per Cent.
No.
Per Cent.
At employers' house
&
118
24.4
75-6
207
201
50.7
49-3
At liome or lodgings .... . .
Total
156
IOO.O
408
IOO.O
To the thoughtful and thrifty colored domestic this ought to
suggest an easy way of saving a good bit for the " old folks at
home J ' if they can only see it that way, for they reduce the
home expenses both for meals and for rent in many cases by
lodging at place of work, while they themselves receive the
same money wages and very likely higher ones, whether their
board and lodging comes out of their employer or is drawn
from their own home circle.
The majority of the single colored girls in service board and
lodge in their employers' establishments, only 38.7 per cent
of them going home at nightj while most of the married
women in service, as is natural, do go home from work, only
27.5 per cent of them lodging in the employers' house. Of
Grades of Service and Wages. 455
the men reporting- in regard to lodging place 29 per cent of the
single men sleep at their places of work, while 71 per cent
have lodgings elsewhere. Of the married men only 17.6 per
cent lodge at the place of work while 82.4 per cent lodge at
home.
V.
SAVINGS AND EXPENDITURE.
The question of the savings of Seventh Ward domestics
would naturally be discussed here. Table XII shows the
facts upon this point. It is based upon the records of those
who have been personally interviewed. In this table the
"societies J> referred to are either sick benefit, death benefit, or
insurance societies, which are all very popular with the colored
people. Their tendency to use this method of saving rather
than to deposit in the bank is shown in many ways. They
frequently express their distrust of banks and banking. One
girl sums up her philosophy by saying, ll I save in my pocket.
I'm a very poor spender, but I bank a little too, only the banks
are so shaky I'm afraid of them. A friend of mine lost $600
in the Keystone and I lost $100 and came near putting in
$50.00 just the day before the bank broke. Yes, I'm afraid of
banks.'* A waiter working on Spruce near Broad says, " I've
quit banking. I lost $300 in the Keystone." This distrust
of banks is traced by excellently qualified judges as far back
as the Freedman's Bank trouble, and it seems probable that
that first wave of distrust has been followed by a second one,
and that to the Philadelphia colored people the failure of the
Keystone stands for the same thing nearer home.
Table XII shows proportion of colored domestics who are
saving and who, therefore, not only are not a burden to the
community, but are adding something to the sum total of its
power. It shows also the methods of saving employed.
It will be noticed that the men do more banking in propor
tion than the women do, and less saving ' ' at home " or by
means of the benefit societies. Three men use the bank where
one woman does, while three women save at home to one man
who does. It is also noticeable that the percentages of those
who do not save at all are about equal in both columns
of Table XII.
(456)
Savings and Expenditure.
457
TABLE XII
SAVINGS OF COLORED DOMESTICS IN PHILADELPHIA.
( By Sex and by Method of Saving. )
Method of Saving.
Per Cent of
Men Who Bare.
Per Cent of
Women Who Save.
Saving in bank only
28.3
Q.7
in society only
20. 7
3O.2
in bank and in society . .
in society and owns prop
erty
18.6
^.5
15-9
1.2
at home ... ...
6 2
IS.O
at home and society . . .
in building association . .
in bank and owns prop
erty
" in bank and society and
owns property or has
built a home ....
Not saving this year .
I. 4
2.1
4-2
4,2
7
I.O
1.2
4-4
41 '* at all
I^.O
15.6
In contrast with this 15 per cent which saves nothing,
may be mentioned a few cases which seem particularly note
worthy as examples of unusual thrift :
1. The case of a young chore-man twenty years old, who
said, " No, he wasn't saving any thing to speak of." And it
would have passed at that, had not his employer said, " Why,
Henry, you know you bring me $2.00 every month to save for
you/ 1 And it came out that from the $14.00 he earned
monthly he was regularly sending $5.00 each month to his aged
mother and saving $2.00. The month before his report was
taken he had sent $10.00 to his mother because she had had a
destructive fire at home and needed new articles.
2. The case of a man cook thirty-one years old, who has been
in his present situation over seven years, and earns $8.00
weekly. From this amount he has supported his family and
built a home which he now owns. He also has a good bank
account which, he says, his wife doesn't know about. He's
** going to surprise her with it when he gets a good bit; or, if
he dies she will have something to keep her/ 1 This man also
has membership in two benefit societies.
45 8 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
3. The case of a young woman twenty-nine years of age,,
who receives $4.00 a week for cooking. She sends $10.00 a
month to her mother who is a consumptive invalid and also
" puts by " $2.00 every month.
4. A chambermaid, a widow fifty-three years old, who says,
"I've got a little home in Virginia I bought and paid for
myself/' She earns $3.00 a week. She also has a bank account
and belongs to a sick benefit society.
5. The case of a young woman of twenty-two years who
' ' banks half she earns every week. ' ' She earns $3.50 weekly and
saves $91.00 a year from her total yearly earnings, $182.00.
6. The case of a butler earning $35.00 a month, who owns
five lots in Richmond, two more in New Jersey and one in
Essington.
7. Another butler forty years old, who has been
twenty-three years in the same family. He is paid
$40.00 a month. He owns a Maryland stock farm which
his uncle manages for him, several lots of land in south
Philadelphia, has a term policy on which he pays $93.00 yearly
and has membership in a sick benefit which insures him $10.00
a week in case of illness.
Perhaps the most popular way of saving among the colored
servants of Philadelphia is now by means of the ' society. ' '
Of all those reporting on savings 48.4 per cent of the men and
52.7 per cent of the women are saving in these societies.
Whether this per cent of patronage of societies by domestic ser
vants is greater or less than that for the whole community, very
nearly two- thirds of all the women who save at all do so through
one or more societies while the greater part of the other one-
third do their saving at home, * ' in their pockets. ' '
These societies, when they are bona fide insurance companies,
often furnish fair investments to their contributors. A policy
drawing a fee of $1.30 monthly when paid up entitles Its holder
to $10.00 a week in case of sickness. A policy drawing eighty
cents a month entitles its holder to $5.00 a week sick benefit.
These represent the sick benefit rates paid by two of the best
and most reliable societies. The great value of such companies
to such individuals as are subject to frequent illness and have
no home for a refuge is clear at a glance. But it often hap
pens that colored people who have Iron constitutions will go
Savings and Expenditure. 459
into these societies and contribute year after year, reaping no-
benefit because they are never ill, and loath to stop paying
their fees and begin to deposit in the bank for fear they should
be ill. The fact that this sort of membership in sick benefits
is a very bad investment was pointed out to a certain waiter on
Pine street who had paid $30.00 a year for ten years into his
two societies, but had never drawn a cent from either because he
had never been sick. The fact that, had he banked his money
he would have had now in hand the sum of $300, could not
be denied, but this certainty was not sufficient to stifle the
feeling that if he dropped the societies he f ' would lose all he
had put in " and the question arising, "suppose I should be
sick?" which was not to be satisfactorily answered by state
ments of probabilities. The same thing, grown to greater
proportions, is seen in the case of one quite aged butler, who
for sixteen years has held policies in seven societies and has
never drawn, except when his wife died. Many instances
might be cited of domestics who have belonged to two or more
societies for six years or more and have never drawn though
their policies were paid up. Several instances were encountered
of domestics who were saving in societies and also in the bank,
and who when they were sick drew all their money out of the
bank and " never thought of the society " and so did not draw
at all, but exhausted their bank accounts and were then,
presumably, helped by friends. One woman,who had been
insured in one society for seventeen years and also held a sick
benefit, exhausted her whole bank account and only drew on
the society for two weeks (although she was ill some months)
because she "didn't think of it" till she had spent all the
money she had in the bank. All which goes to show how
difficult it is for a people long unused to any financial responsi
bility to adjust their minds to it and how easy a matter it is
for unscrupulous persons or societies to take advantage of their
simplicity.
Assistance Given by Domestic Servants. In connection
with wages and savings may be considered the matter of
assistance to dependents. Many colored domestics in Phila
delphia either wholly support or very materially help toward
the support of parents or other members of the family. Even,
460 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.
in many cases, taking entire care of more distant relatives,
outside the immediate home circle.
The answers to Question 21 of the schedule (" Who besides
yourself is supported by your wages?") were separated into
four grades : (i) those wholly supporting one or both parents;
(2), those helping parents ; (3), those wholly supporting others
than parents ; (4), those helping, but not wholly supporting,
others than parents.
In this matter, the men generally do less proportionately
than the women. Of 187 men reporting on this point, 13,
that is 7 per cent, are of the first class, who furnish from their
earnings the whole support of one or both parents ; 40 (or 21.4
per cent) are of the second class, and are helping one or both
parents; 25 (or 13.4 per cent), are of the third class, and are
supporting some other member of the family, generally some
younger brother or sister ; while 16 (or 8.6 per cent) are of the
fourth class, and are helping, though not wholly supporting,
some other member of the family; 8 (or 4.3 per cent) are doing
more than one of these things; e. g., one young fellow of
twenty years who earns only $3.00 a week, is responsible for
the support of his father's entire family, seven in number, as
the father drinks and can not be depended upon. One waiter,
twenty-eight years old, receives $20.00 a month and is help
ing his own father and mother and both his wife's parents
also. His wife too is earning, so what it practically amounts
to is that the two young people are between them taking care
of the four old people. The facts gathered in the Seventh
Ward show 50*3 per cent of the men in domestic service are
contributing toward the support of parents or others while
49-7 P er cen t have no one but themselves to look out for. These
facts and similar ones for colored women domestics are here
tabulated, 187 men in all reported on this subject and 420
women.
Table XIII presents approximately the actual condition
in regard to responsibilities assumed for the help or support
of parents and others. Whether the following table, which,
will show the proportion of wages thus given, is equally
reliable, is an open question. It is difficult to estimate at a
moment's notice what one spends or gives for any one object.
To determine with any degree of accuracy the amount one
Savings and Expenditure.
461
TABLE XIII.
NUMBER AND PERCENTAGE OF COLORED DOMESTIC SERVANTS IN PHIL
ADELPHIA HAVING PARENTS OR OTHERS DEPENDENT ON THEM.
(607 Cases.)
b
fl
11
&
*!
fiC
is
^S
11
P<o
SE
Sfi
3 es
w S
5?J
tCPk
fe
tCO
tf
5 a
,, f Number . . . .
4O
25
16
O4
Men - \Percent
7
21.4
j .
8.6
4Q.7
TTT * J Number ....
Women. | percent
26
6.2
121
28.8
4 6
II
48
II. 4
241
179
42.6
spends in a year for clothing is not always an easy thing to do.
So the answers given must involve a large amount of involun
tary misstatement. The following table, therefore, may be
taken with allowances. It gives the result of many averages
thus hastily struck by the domestics interviewed, and shows
the number and percentage of colored servants who regularly
give one-half, more than one-half or less than one-half their
wages toward the support of those dependent on them.
TABI.E XIV.
NUMBER AND PERCENTAGE OF COIX>RED DOMESTIC SERVANTS OF
PHII^J>EI<FHIA SUPPORTING OTHERS, BY SEX AND
PROPORTION OF WAGES GIVEN.
Glrinj? One-half
Total Earnings.
Giving 1 Xess than
One-half.
Giving More than
One-half.
Men. J Number . . .
\ Per cent . . .
rer _ fNnmber . .
Women. | percent
3.7 (of 187)
3
7.1 (of 420)
22
11.8
16.9
7
3-7
Many who do help their p&mits and others report that
they M can not estimate how much it takes.' * Fifteen, how
ever, who give no estimate as to proportion of wages given,
say very plainly that it " takes all I make," or, it " takes every
thing but eno' to